Toyota's Problems

I am naturally suspicious. Mainly because I am a prime mover believer. It's after all Newton's first law of motion-objects at rest stay at rest unless acted on by an external force. Toyota was at rest, but not now. And Toyota is clearly being acted on by an external force. Consumers loved the company. They were buying Toyota automobiles at record rates despite Detroit's pleas and new car introductions to the contrary.

Consider this: the government I believe is now Detroit's biggest shareholder. By the way, Toyota did not take any government money. And woe to Toyota now. The Department of Transportation wants all Toyota's warranty records. In other words, Detroit's biggest shareholder has the power to subpoena records from Toyota, to fine Toyota, and to cause them eternal management grief and so on. And do all this in the spirit of protecting the consumer, as if the courts and an army of aggressive personal injury attorneys were not already engaged in doing the same thing. Do they really need help?

And Toyota asks a very practical question. Electronics break down. We build a million cars and we have 8 electronic failures, how many are we allowed? How many are reasonable? The consumer needs to always ask what is the price of reasonableness. What is the cost of zero defects if it exists in theory only.

All of a sudden Toyota is in a world of hurt from every weapon the government has. Also keep in mind Toyota has no union workers yet. Here is my prediction, by next year, Toyota will have been slammed to the ground by a PR behemoth known as the Feds and they will not stop until Toyota is unionized. Toyota has a new competitor and it is not headquartered in Detroit.

Conspiracy theory? No, just putting observable patterns together in place where they belong. Newton's first law of motion is at work and Toyota has indeed been acted on by an external force. Who is the real winner in this situation? Not the consumer. We loved Toyota. Fed and union regulations drove Detroit to its bankrupt knees and Toyota is next.

Ford is the winner in this PR melee of course. They are not being acted on by an external force and did not take any Fed money either. Ford is safe from Detroit's newest most powerful shareholder as long as they do not report robust sales or profits. Then woe to them too, more than likely. Success is punished by torture in the new normal. Remember how well Microsoft was doing until the Feds stepped in? IBM was a global leader too until they had their day in court. We used to manufacture things too. And so on. Get it?