Excerpts from an article by The Wall Street Journal. Mr Toyoda and his allies have been saying openly that when he took the top job last year after a 15-year hiatus for the Toyoda clan, he inherited a company weakened by non-family predecessors who sacrificed quality for faster growth and fatter margins.
The problems arose when "some people just got too big-headed and focused too excessively on profit," Mr Toyoda said at a Beijing news conference in March. He acknowledged the "ultimate responsibility for mistakes... lies in me".
A week earlier, Jim Press -- once the top Toyota executive in the US before he jumped to a rival automaker -- issued a statement declaring: "The root cause of their problems is that the company was hijacked, some years ago, by anti-family, financially oriented pirates."
Those executives "didn't have the character to maintain a customer-first focus. Akio does," said Mr Press, who had a run-in with non-family Japanese bosses several years ago.
Highly recommended reading. In a way, in further confirms this author's believe that the root cause lies with Hiroshi Okuda and Katsuaki Watanabe's adopting very American management style of pursuing growth and to be very short term profit minded.
And again "Is Akio ducking criticism of being a beneficiary of nepotism by accusing us and trying to justify his ascendancy to the top job?" one of Mr Watanabe's top aides said. "One of our biggest social responsibilities is to generate profits and pay taxes. To criticise the company's effort to maximise profits and thus taxes is just complete nonsense." Again this is a very typical thing you would expect from GM, but certainly not from what most people would think of Toyota - the company that puts customer first, environment first, etc etc.
Meanwhile, back in FoMoCo's head office in Dearborn, Michigan, things are looking very good.
North American Dealers Association - Resale value of Ford increased by 23% in 2009, exceeding the industry average by 4%. Ford records sharpest rise in quarterly market share since 1977.
The Ford Way forward? Remind me again what was Toyota's problem solving mantra that so many self-proclaimed management book authors chant again? Asking 5-whys? Teamwork, harmony, concensus decision making, eliminating muda? Sometimes people need a strong reminder that Toyota, however great it is, at the end of the day is just a company made up of imperfect humans, and it is really not THAT different from GM or any other companies once you peel through the carefully crafted image hiding the company's true intentions. Management fads come and go. Human nature of ego and greed is a constant that afflicts Americans just as much as Japanese.
So, we already know that the new Touran will be assembled in VW's new plant in Indonesia. The small new piece of information that we get is that the Touran will be made available in Thailand, priced similar to what the Wish is selling now.
We already know that production of the second generation Wish in Thailand will be discontinued and it is highly unlikely that the new second generation Wish will continue to be made available to the Thais, given the relatively low sales volume in its existing form. Even the second generation model, have not been a hit amongst grey importers / parallel importers of Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. So it is very unlikely that the second generation Wish will be made available officially to ASEAN markets. Handling the entire midi-MPV segment to the Honda Stream RSZ, which itself is already selling a lot less than their peak about 7 years ago when both the first generation Stream and Wish are the two most popular parallel imported cars. Somehow, the grown up Wish appears to have lost much of the sporty appeal that made the first generation model such a big hit.
But assuming that the rumour is true, that the new Touran comes in after the Wish leaves, there are still many doubts. This is a region that has shown itself that ASEAN consumers want an MPV that does not look like an MPV. Surely the Touran's conservative styling will not interest many. I think the last time a similarly classed and conservatively styled European MPV that sold in big numbers was the Chevy Nabira - it sold relatively well in urban Bangkok but the higher cost subsequent generation models were not made available to this region.
But what the Touran lacks in design appeal, it more than makes up for it with its twin-charged 1.4-litre TSI engine that produces 170 bhp is more than enough to smoke the 138 bhp (140PS) 1.8-litre four that powers the Honda Stream RSZ - the current "sportiest" MPV that Honda Malaysia likes to market it as a "7-day coupe," whatever that means. Coupled that with a 7-speed ultra fast shifting DSG transmission and you'll start to wonder why bother with the looks. Let's go for the "all go and no show" philosophy.
So you can say it's kind of a sleeper. Perfect for those who get some kick out of surprising those loud cars in an unassuming Q-car.
There is also a cleverly designed EcoFuel (CNG) variant that hides the bulky CNG tanks underneath the floorboards.
Update : Mazda confirms that only cars made between January 2006 and March 2009 are covered by the recall. Essentially the first generation Mazda3. The second generation 3 picture above is not affected. More updates here.
Mazda has announced that there will be a recall for the Mazda3 (Axela in Japan) model in Japan and China. North American market models are not affected are they are slightly different from its Asian cousins. Possibly due to Federal regulation compliance. The 3 in North American market comes with a 2.5-litre engine option as well. Even it's bigger brother, the 6, is actually a different car though it looks similar to its Asian / European counterparts. The Mazda6 in USA is slightly bigger in all dimensions compared to the 6 sold in the rest of the world.
The recall is to fix an oil hose. There is nothing to be alarmed as unlike the recent issues with Toyota-Lexus (erm...too many to name) or even Honda (Accord's airbag and Jazz power window switch) the problem does not pose any immediate threat to safety and is a precautionary move from Mazda. Reuters quoted Mazda on saying "driving on rough roads for an extended time could cause the oil hose to rub against the radiator's protective panel, causing oil to leak with wear. In the worst case, the car would be unable to start." No accidents or even complaints from customers have been recorded in Japan thus far. Though we are not sure if there have been any reports to China's consumer safety body ASQIQ.
No press release on this can be found on Mazda's official global website but Reuters puts the units affected by the recall as 89,822 cars in Japan and China. No indication on whether is this limited to the current generation 3 or the previous generation 3. Reuters also added that a further 191,503 units sold elsewhere could be subject to repairs. Presumably, this includes those sold in ASEAN and Asia-Ocenia region. Outside of China, Singapore and Australia are two of the main markets for Mazda in the Asia-Ocenia region.
So far there is no word yet from Mazda South East Asia (MSEA), the company's regional head office based in Bangkok, regarding this matter. There are only three sources of Mazda3 in the world - Mazda's own plant in Japan at Hofu, Yamaguchi. The Taiwanese plant at Chung Li, run by Ford Lio Ho Motor and China's Chongqing plant, a local JV with Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Co. Ltd. Following Mazda's separation from Ford, the partnership in Chongqing plant will be dissolved by 2012. Not sure about the Taiwanese plant but a similar result is expected.
Toyota bashing in US of A continues again with greater intensity. This time, the victim is the Lexus GX 460 SUV, a left hand drive only model that is predominantly sold in North American markets, sharing many components with the Toyota 4-Runner SUV. According the Consumer Reports, the GX's electronic stability control or VSC in Toyota speak, would react too slow to restore the vehicle's composure when the throttle is suddenly lifted in a high speed corner, resulting in what is called a "lift-off oversteer." The news received great coverage across America, with many of portraying the GX as a very dangerous SUV that could easily flip over.
Toyota have lost many friends, especially with recent revelations that the company knowingly covered up defects in its cars since 2006. It's something you would expect the old GM to do, but not Toyota, the company who lectured the world on solving problems, putting customer first and understanding their needs etc etc. But certainly this is getting way overboard. Lift-off oversteer? They gotta be kidding! If we are concerned about lift-off oversteer why don't CR discourage sales of all rear-engined rear wheel drive or short wheelbase mid-engine cars? Maybe we should stop people from driving Porsche 911s, Lotus sports cars, quirky hatchbacks like the old Renault Clio V6 and the assortment of hyper-fast Ferraris that will bite your arm off if you don't give it due respect, on grounds as ridiculous as lift-off oversteer!
If you head into a corner too fast and realize that the turn is tighter than expected or took a wrong inside line that didn't allow to see further into the turn to notice an obstacle, and you crash - well that's because you're a complete idiot! It has little to do with Toyota's VSC for reacting too slow. Sure the VSC software can be improved, but the responsibility is on the driver to exercise proper judgement when driving a behemoth SUV, not Toyota playing the role of a nanny. Imagine if the European Union safety and transport authorities would inspect all cars for "dangerous lift-off oversteer" - anything from a humble Renault Megane R26.R to Koenigsegg, to TVRs to Caterhams etc etc would be banned! Thankfully, people in the rest of the world tend to exercise better judgement and take more responsibility for their own actions.
Every vehicle have different levels of dynamic capabilities dialed in by its chassis engineers, thus the different levels of intervention points for its ESC. Though you would expect a Lexus to be setup with a very "conservative" personality than say...a BMW X5. Thus it would be perplexing to learn that the Lexus VSC kicks in so late. It's something that most rational individual would shrug off as a quirky aspect, or maybe Toyota engineers do not think it is necessary because this is not how Lexus drivers drive. Either way it's not something as dramatic as what the media portrays it.
If you take tackle corners the way CR did in an SUV, then you are a complete loony whose driving license ought to be suspended in the first place.
Toyota have since suspended sales of all GX 460 in the US. The American media, in their bias state took this as a "chink" in the armour. It needs to be stressed that no accidents / complaints from owners were lodged regarding an "unstable GX 460."
Time to look into history (again). Back in the 1990s, the W168 Mercedes A-class was just launched. Swedish car magazine Teknikens Värld, put it through an elk test. The A-class almost rolled over. Daimler's first reaction was to deny the problem. Constrast this with Toyota's immediate reaction to suspend sales of all Lexus GX 460 and promised to look into the matter. But luckily, Daimler very quickly realized that the world is no longer the same as before, when word spread quickly and the same test was replicated by many other magazines across Europe with the same result, some of them actually flipping over. Even mainstream press covered the news widely. Daimler delayed no further and issued a global recall for all A-class to have them fitted with ESC as standard and had their chassis retuned with stiffer suspensions.
Toyota made a huge mistake in the past by covering up defects, but new boss Akio Toyoda has since moved the company on. The Lexus GX 460 is only as dangerous as any other SUV driven by a loony driver. VSC interventions as more than sufficient for most Lexus drivers, as clearly shown by the lack of evidence or complaints to link the problem with any accidents involving the GX.
There is a worry that this could set a precedent - that all future cars will be to set as idiot-proof as possible. Hairy chested cars and lairy handling cars will soon be a thing of the past. Already because of product liability concerns, ESC on many cars cannot be switched off. Maybe all future cars will have their ESC programmed to cut power at the slightest hint of a wheel slide. Already you cannot left-foot brake when at the wheel of some modern higher end cars, because the ESC / TC will just cut power, not allowing you to string up a sequence of corners smoothly. And because some Americans refuse to check their tire pressures regularly, and can't tell that the steering is heavier / acceleration is more sluggish / tire noise is higher / vehicle is slightly tilted one side because of an under-inflated Firestone tire in their Ford Explorer, a new law mandating tire pressure monitors for new cars in America had to be drawn up to avoid manufacturers being sued.
So we already know that Justin Timberlake is the new brand ambassador for Audi. Initially it was assumed that Justin Timberlake will appear in some ad for Audi's latest model - the A1 model. But now it appears that Audi will be making a series of Internet short films starring the A1 and Justin Timberlake, titled "The Next Big Thing."
The concept of using Internet short films to market cars is not a new idea. BMW pioneered it about 5 years ago, with great success with the "The Hire" series, starring Clive Owen. Many of the top film directors including John Woo were invited to make the films. Appearances by superstars including Madonna and Don Cheadle were also featured. The personal favourite of this author is the episode of Hostage and Ticker, below.
So the biggest news this week is the le cost killer Carlos Ghosn and Walrus Deiter Zetsche have inked a new deal expanding the existing Renault-Nissan alliance that already includes brands like Renault, Nissan, Infiniti and Samsung (Motors) to include Mercedes-Benz and Smart. There is no mention of Maybach though.
Most articles in mainstream media tend to mention that the reason behind this is to keep the Smart brand afloat, keep Mercedes small cars range of A-class and B-class viable and impending EU fleet average CO2 regulation that seriously puts predominantly large and RWD car makers like Daimler at disadvantage.
Personally, I believe the motivating factor can all be summed up with 2 words - Volkswagen Group. VAG's threat is not to be taken lightly. Back in 2007, Volkswagen announced its ambition to make VW the largest car maker, overtaking Toyota. Part of the plan includes making Audi the most successful luxury car brand in the world, implying that it would overtake BMW and Mercedes-Benz, by 2015. In 2009, Audi shot up from somewhere nobody bothers to remember, into the 3rd best selling luxury brand behind No.1 BMW and No.2 Mercedes-Benz. In the first quarter of 2010, Audi officially overtook Mercedes to take No.2 spot in the sales global tally. In currently trails behind BMW but looks set on closing in the gap.
Unlike Daimler, VW has a very large model and brand portfolio under it, allowing it to greater spread costly development of new platforms, transmissions, engines and other components. VW Group's Small FWD architecture can be adapted for sale in at least 4 different market segments under the Audi, Skoda, Volkswagen and Seat brand. What's more, technologies and designs used in outgoing Audi models can be "recycled" for use by Skoda and Seat. Being part of VAG, Audi has far greater flexibility to spread its average CO2 emission to other VW models and benefit from more fuel efficient FWD platforms currently used by VW.
Factor in the dominance of Volkswagen and Audi brand in China, now the world's largest single car market, and Skoda's relative strength in India, you can understand the need for guys at Stuttgart to shore some strategic alliances. Both the Smart and A-class and B-class have been a financial black hole for Mercedes-Benz. The Smart ForTwo's costly Tridion safety cell and the A-class "sandwich" platform looks ingenious on paper, but when the Smart is compared to the Toyota iQ, the Smart doesn't seem that "smart" after all. As for the A-class and B-class, Mercedes is still struggling to shift enough volume and squeeze enough margin out of them. A problem compounded by their very costly construction method.
Building profitable small cars have always been an Achielles heel for Daimler. Contrary to popular perception, the first "compact" Mercedes-Benz is not the W201 190E. Way back in 1934, Mercedes launched the Type 130H, a compact rear engined model, designed by someone named Dr. Hans Nibel. Nibel was known as one of the most talented engineers of its time but his name was often forgotten in history because he worked for a towering figure named Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, who started his career at Austro-Daimler. At Daimler-Benz, Dr. Porsche have been championing a mass market car that the average man could afford, but his bosses at Daimler-Benz could not agree to it, saying that the project is too radical and Daimler making much better profits at building large high end cars. Porsche called it quits and went on his own. Soon by then the Nazi party Fuhrer Adolf Hitler was championing the idea of a people's car and German car companies were given the mandate to design one. With the departure of Dr. Porsche, Dr. Nibel took over and created the Type 130H. But the Type 130H had a reputation for dangerous handling due to its odd engine location. At the same time, Ferdinand Porsche had started out on his own and built the Type-30, which we would later know as the original VW Beetle. The German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler decreed that Dr. Porsche's design would be chosen and is to be built at Daimler's Sindelfingen plant (before later moving to VW's Wolfsburg plant) to fulfill the Nazi party's mandate of a people's car. And the rest is history. The Type 130H and its variations (Type 150H and 170H) were forgotten. Dr. Ferdinand Porsche would later build a sports car called 356 that bears his name. His son Ferry Porsche would again later built an even better car called 911....The story is one of the lesser known greatest what-ifs in automotive history.
Decades later Daimler-Benz AG (later known as DaimlerChrysler and then Daimler AG) would attempt to enter the small car market, by build the Smart ForTwo under partnership with Swiss watch maker Swatch and the A-class and B-class models. None of which made any money for the company.
During the press conference, Ghosn revealed that Renault was first approached by Daimler to jointly develop the next generation Smart. Zetsche revealed that Daimler needs to strengthen its small cars base to avoid penalties under the new EU CO2 regulation. Nissan just went along for a ride, really. There is little synergies to be found between Infiniti and Mercedes. Infiniti is a more US centric brand and targets a more sportier image, compared to the Merc's more corporate image.
Put aside the details and complex analysis of the alliance aside for a moment and consider the current and future standing of the Mercedes brand.
Gran Turismo 5 is set to be launched this year. Looking at the demo videos, I noted inclusion of Audi R8 V10 and Mercedes AMG SLS Gullwing. And then it dawned upon me - this tells how different are the future direction of these two company. Mercedes drew inspiration from its illustrious history, the legendary W196 300SL Gullwing that the great Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson won the Mille Miglia in 1955. Audi did not have such illustrious road racing cars other than the ill fated Streamliner that Bernd Rosemeyer died in, so it had to look forward.
On the GT5, between the R8 and SLS, it becomes very obvious which car would a 15-year old on his PS3 decide to use. Of course Mercedes have their reasons to give the SLS a retro feel, because actual buyers of the SLS are not 15-year olds but 60-year olds who lived through the period of Sir Stirling Moss's victory and thus would appreciate the retro touch. But the small relatively insignificant thing to note here is the aspirational value of the brand. Granted this is a very subjective matter but in my personal opinion, the writings on the wall are brighter than a pair of damn Xenon headlamps!
Sure, Merc is still the most valuable car brand in the world today and for many years to come. But if you are asking about aspirational value, what kind of cars do today's kids, tomorrow's drivers will aspire to own - then answer could be very different. Look no further than the popular options at Gran Turismo series. A GTR should top the list but I doubt a Merc is among them.
Guess things have come to an almost full cycle. Gen-Xers didn't want the same car as their old bosses drive, so they went for a BMW. And the E30 3-series created a whole new genre. But today's kids see their dad's BMWs in similar way to how their dads used to see Mercs, fast but big and bulky driven by balding men. BMW acknowledged it is fighting a gradual increase in average age of its owners. There are talks that a M version of the 1-series is in the plans to draw younger buyers, with an affordable M car.
The next question now is what will be Renault and Daimler's competitors of PSA (Peugeot-Citroen) and BMW's response will be. Daimler had previously had some talks with BMW on a small car project collaboration, and it's easy to guess what the results would be. Peugeot and BMW have an ad-hoc basis collaboration on small petrol engines. Both Peugeot and BMW are still under significant influence from the founding Peugeot families and Quandt families of BMW. Understandably, both families are not very keen on mergers that would devalue their stock. Also precisely the reason why Peugeot and BMW are a good match for each other.
Deiter Zetsche's contract expires at 2013. Ghosn's term is unclear. Hopefully this will be nothing like the disasterous Daimler-Chrysler deal engineered by Jurgen Schrempp and Bob Eaton - the two person that stripped Chrysler of its value, destroyed employee's savings and then they both cashed out their stock options and retired. Former Chrysler's charismatic star boss Lee Iacocca would later admit in his book "Where Have All The Leader's Gone" that selecting Bob Eaton to succeed him was one of his greatest mistake, and destroyed a company that was previously doing very well on its own.
Motorsports is an expensive hobby. Competing for one season even in a banger could easily exceed a year or two worth of wages. And more often than not for most privateers, motorsports is a financial black hole, a futile psychological tension between prudent logic that wants to stop you from dumping more money to chase that last tenth of a second and pure ignorance and wishful thinking that you can actually win some prize money. Most enthusiasts resign to the fact that they can only be armchair enthusiasts. But once in a while, something comes along and creates an opportunity for a lucky few to break through the ranks.
One such pairing that was given this opportunity is Ong Boon Keat aka OBK and Francis Lai aka Keng, thanks to a reality TV series called Zero2Hero, currently in its second season. The series offers 6 months of rally training, with the winner taking home a rally spec car to be used in Malaysian Rally Championship (MRC), rally tires sponsorship from Silverstone, fee waiver for MRC, and RM1.5k cash for use in each round of the competition. Below is a profile video shoot of them.
Meet them in person, OBK and Keng are not your stereotypical boy racers. They are IT professionals by day that moonlights as wheelmen by night, nor do they drive the usual loud boy racer cars. Although OBK has a "replica" Lotus Esprit lying in a garage somewhere, but more on that later.
Keng and OBK are long time friends from their university days. When OBK is not charming girls with his good looks and suave moves he can be found hanging around in workshops of Seri Kembangan. Francis meanwhile comes from a family line that are involved with cars and motorsports in one way or another. His brother runs a garage called Nats Autoparts in Rawang. Keng was the rookie guy who started making his name when during a go-kart race, sliced his way through to the top pack from the back, but only to spin out after hitting a wet patch. But the new kid on the block has made his point. Keng's motorsports CV reads as below :
2009 Bukit Merah Rally, MRC, 6th in class Drivers Series (karting), 11th in class 2008 Gokart Challenge 2008, Winner 2007 DCM: Drift clinic 2005 “Doin it sideways” rally show-off, 3rd in class 2004 Off the street (FWD drift), Winner 2003 Gymkhana training by Masaki Nishihara (BF Goodrich) 2002 SSO Drift (Proton), 9th in class MMU Gokart challenge 2001 Gokart Challenge 2001 (Citibank), 8th overall
Keng and OBK thought each other on the finer art of drifting, in their crappy underpowered cars (precisely where greater skill are required) before graduating into more "traditional" forms of motorsport, i.e. rallying.
When OBK started making more moolahs, he bought one piece of shit Nissan Bluebird, have it stripped out, fixed up the rusted body and chassis, plonked in a SR20 block to built his very own drift machine. Until someone in particular who was trying out the vehicle lost it in a really bad way. Today it lies in a workshop awaiting repairs and is commonly referred to amongst OBK and Francis' fellow petrolhead peers as their Lotus Esprit.
So when Keng chanced upon Zero2Hero, he quickly asked OBK to join with only 2 days left before the audition day.
Gymkhana challenge during the audition.
Rally school
OBK and Keng sharing a light moment with Australian Cody Crocker, the most successful rally driver in Asia Pacific. He currently drives for the Motor Image Subaru Rally Team.
You can read more about their journey into rallying here at D24 blog. OBK and Keng have come a long way since their first audition for Zero2Hero 2. They have completed the necessary rally lessons under the guidance of FA Racing. OBK has been tutored in reading pace notes and tulips, Francis in finer art of rally driving while both have been trained on managing media relations by Diane Barton, organizer of Asia Pacific Rally Championship as well as Mr. Chris Carr, organizer of Australian round of the 2009 World Rally Championship.
OBK and Keng will debut in the Malaysian Rally, MR10, in Kota Tinggi Johor this April-23, in a Peugeot 206. Of course this author would love to see them in a full blown Group A specs Peugeot 206 similar to the one driven by the pairing of Marcus Gronholm and co-driver Timo Rautiainen when they won the 2000 and 2002 World Rally Championship, but reality of cost constraints and the lack support for local rallying scene meant that they would have to make do with bare minimal equipment.
Sponsorship enquiries are welcomed. They can be contacted at :
Note the Ferrari cap. So apparently Michael Bay is a big time Ferrari fan. Not "fan" in an 8-year old kind of way, but as a long time collector of Ferrari cars. Bay was recently acknowledged by Pierro Ferrari, the sole surviving heir of the Ferrari family, as a "long time friend of Ferrari" in a recent charity auction event in United States.
Michael Bay with Pierro Ferrari at a charity auction gala for the first Ferrari 458 Italia to arrive in America.
Nothing is as simple as it appears. During the gala event, Mr. Bay announced that a Ferrari 458 Italia will be joining the Autobots in the next Transformer 3 sequel.
Think many will have some mixed feelings about having a Ferrari joining Bumblebee's Camaro. But then again, in the original cartoon series, there was a character named Sideswipe that is a Lamborghini Countach. So Italian supercar characters are not that out of place.
TF3 filming locations will include LA, Chicago, Washington DC, Florida, Texas, Africa, Moscow, and China. And this time, Bay is promising more character development. TF1 was fine. TF2 had very poor character development. No news if the stars in the previous TF installments will be carried over but one Ken Jeong - that annoying Asian dude in Role Models and Hangover is confirmed.
Hans Cheong is a former automotive industry executive. In another life, he was a former motor industry consultant. He can be contacted at autoindustrie[at]gmail[dot]com
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