Toyota now wants to raise prices to help GM catch up in market share.

[KlatooBNikto]

That is what the news item says.

In that condescending scrap thrown at GM, Toyota has essentially confirmed its position as the No.1 automaker in the wordld.

Even if the prices are adjusted upward GM simply will not be able to catch up with Toyota because its reputation for quality is unassailable.

What I think will happen is that Toyota will laugh all the way to the bank with its increased profits and will continue to enjoy dominant market share.

People will buy Toyota cars for the cachet alone and GM will be in broad retreat.GM's demise will be painful but unavoidable.

[TwentyFive]

1. Help GM while screwing the public and lining your own pockets.

How kind of them! Toyota cars are more boring than even GM. They only sell because they are very heavily advertised and don't fall apart. Otherwise, they are lame.

[KlatooBNikto]

4. What they have managed to do is produce a broad spectrum of

cars that appeal to a wide variety of tastes.That way they can have a market presence across the board.And their reputation for quality and longevity does the rest.

[TwentyFive]

8. Toyota = Wal-Mart! They sell because they are heavily advertised.

Every Toyota I've ever driven is at best, average. The rest is all marketing.

[KlatooBNikto]

10. There is a reason why they are able to sell well and that is because of

their well deserved reputation for quality, reliability and longevity.

[TwentyFive]

12. Toyota is raising prices because of the falling dollar!

However, since Toyota is a HUGE contributer to the GOP, issuing this statment leads US consumers to blame the price increases on protectionism and a unionized competitor...and not the Bush failing economic policies.

However, many Americans are dumb enought to drink the Toyota Kool-aid.

[NickB79]

16. As opposed to GM vehicles

Original, flashy, fun pieces of crap that die or fall apart after 2-3 yrs of normal driving. I don't consider it fun when your tranny craps out while you're cruising at 70 mph on the highway. What's lame about a car that lasts a decade or more?

I'll take boring and reliable over novel and unreliable anyday. I don't need the "excitement" of a $1000 repair bill from my mechanic, or the "excitement" of sitting on the side of the road while vehicles buzz by at 75 mph.

I use my car to go to and from work, out to the movies, out to hang out with friends, etc. I don't need 4-wheel drive to climb mountain trails, I don't need to transport the entire soccer team to and from a game, I don't need 300 HP and 0-60 in 5 sec to drive in stop-and-go traffic (or even on the highway for that matter) and I don't need to haul enough lumber to build a new garage back to my house. I believe that most Americans do not have these requirements either, which explains the success of Toyota far more than their marketting.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. Toyota has...

Better production facilities and does not allow accountants to design cars. There is the difference.

[TheFarseer]

3. GM won't even take advantage

they'll just declare a huge dividend and keep whining about unions.

[Cats Against Frist]

5. Isn't that illegal -- it's like some kind of not-so-secret price fixing

[KlatooBNikto]

7. It may be illegal but politically correct.

[ixion]

6. Toyotas hold their value pretty well...

better than any GM car on the road, except for the classics.

[KansDem]

9. Didn't they do this back with Chrysler was in deep doo-doo?

Around 1980? I thought after Chrysler got its government bailout, the Japanese auto importers voluntarily cut back on imports into the US in an effort to hoist new-car prices and boost Chrysler's sagging sales.

[cornermouse]

11. I'm sorry.

Toyota's position makes no sense to me.

Maybe I don't react properly, but if I want a Toyota and Toyota announces they're raising the price to help GM and avoid making American buyers angry (not wanting to anger buyers was something that I saw somwhere else), I'm going to figure they've raised the sticker price rather than raise production, Toyotas are still going to be difficult/impossible to get, and I'm going to go look at one of the other car makers for a new car.

[KlatooBNikto]

13. Toyota is playing a shrewd game.Under normal circumstances,

raising prices will not be a good strategy for anyone.But the game Toyota is playing is to make it palatable to the public they are raising prices only to help an American Car company. That will not produce any anger at Toyota.Instead I think it will earn them goodwill.

[cornermouse]

15. It still appears to me that they plan to make you order and then

wait for xxx amount of (I'm assuming) months. That's not the way I buy a car. In the interval of xxx amount of months, someone could put a car that I like much better on the market. Toyotas are not very pretty.

If the American brands get on the ball and design some goodlooking, comfortable cars, preferably hybrid or better yet hydrogen to come out in the near future, Toyota's new plan is potentially a recipe for disaster.

[flvegan]

14. Isn't Toyota in bed with Pontiac on lots of stuff?

Designing/building and making parts for each other's cars (Matrix/Vibe, for example)?