GFerg

GM says Toyota quality is down
Top exec says the Japanese auto maker's recent recalls have tarnished their reputation for quality.
September 21, 2005: 7:09 PM EDT


DETROIT (Reuters) - A top official at General Motors Corp. said Wednesday that rival Toyota Motor Corp.'s reputation for quality was no longer as rock solid as it once was, citing a rise in the number of product recalls at the top Japanese carmaker.

"For a long time, they've lived off a well-earned reputation, say in the area of product quality," said John Smith, GM (down $0.38 to $30.70, Research) Vice President of global product planning.

"But if you look at the objective data in the last three years, that well-earned reputation isn't as well-earned in recent years," Smith said at the Reuters Autos Summit, held in Detroit.

Toyota (down $0.63 to $86.89, Research) is racking up market share in the United States largely at the expense of GM, which has consistently lagged Japan's top automakers in key quality studies.

"I'd say objectively that while I still think they're living off the reputation, I don't think it's being earned every day as it used to be in the past.

"And whether or not that catches up to them -- that remains to be seen," said Smith.

Toyota's Lexus luxury brand remained the top nameplate in an annual quality by J.D. Power this year. GM had two brands in the top five, but its Chevrolet, Pontiac, Saab and Saturn scored below the industry average.

GM leads the industry in product recalls, having called in 2 million vehicles in April, and another 804,000 units last month.

Toyota has also had its share, recalling 978,000 pickups and sport utility vehicles this month.

"(Recalls) didn't seem to be something they did very much of in the years past, but they've been doing it a lot these days," Smith said.

"We seem to attract more attention when we do things of that type ... I'll be interested to see whether they get the same kind of coverage that we used to get," he added, referring to the latest Toyota recall.

As Toyota, which recently eclipsed Ford Motor Co. (down $0.10 to $9.66, Research) as the world's second-largest automaker, carves out a bigger share of the U.S. market, most industry watchers expect it to unseat GM at the top in the next several years.

Smith expressed confidence, however, that GM would retain the top spot as far out as 2015, when he projects new car sales in the world to reach 85 million units a year, up from around 63 million now.


http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/21/news...reut/index.htm

WhiteTiger

He who lives in glass houses...............

RON430

Hey, take this seriously. If anyone knows poor quality (I wish I had a more amusing way to put that) it is GM.

mmarshall

Well, there is a little truth (not much) to Mr. Smith's statement. GM does build a few products approaching Toyota quality....unfortunately, not enough. Consumer Reports gave the Buick Century and Regal top reliability ratings in the mid-size sedan category....higher than even the Camry and Accord. The Chevrolet Impala, Monte Carlo, and Lumina have had better-than-average reliability good ratings for several years, as did the Pontiac Vibe...a Toyota design. And Toyota did have some serious problems with the new 4Runner V6 ( not the V8 ).

But, Toyota / Lexus, Honda / Acura, and Subaru still do a better job, quality-wise, than anyone else, and to be honest, for the most part I will very politely have to say that Mr. Smith is full of it.

Leets

exactly... I'd rather purchase from a company that does voluntary recalls of potentially non-life-threatening defects than one that waits until the wrongful death lawsuits begin to outweigh the cost of a recall.

Lexusfreak

Yup, my Dad bought a 2002 Century Limited earlier this year & the car has been fantastic!

As for recalls, why don't we get ALL the figures say in the last 5 years of how many vehicles GM has recalled vs. Toyota/Lexus! GM shouldn't worry about other auto makers issues when they are probably the highest in the world at recalls!

GS3Tek

iTrader: (8)

And why is that we have to hear Toyota's quality down from GM???
Makes no sense or gives no credibility since they are also the competitor.

RON430

Duh. If you can't improve your competitive position (GM improving their quality for the last ten, twenty, thirty, or forty years), then run down the competition. Would anyone here be more impressed with GM if they actually improved their own quaity, and designs, rather than talk about what a poor job the other guys are doing. Grow up GM. You are your own worst enemy, not Toyota.

STIG

for some reason i found the title of this thread very funny.

-J-P-L-

[QUOTE=mmarshall]...Consumer Reports gave the Buick Century and Regal top reliability ratings in the mid-size sedan category....higher than even the Camry and Accord...QUOTE]

That's all fine and dandy now with initial findings, but lets wait 12 years and lets see them compare a 12 year old Camry to a 12 year old Century. Then we'll see which is the better built car.

flipside909

Haha you know whats funny. Working in the Insurance/Car Repair industry, I find alot of 5-15 year old Buicks turn into total losses from a light hit. Poor resale value and high depreciation causes the total loss threshold to sit very low.

Bercasio

iTrader: (1)

Wow, now i find that to be very amusing to hear something like "Toyota quality is down"??? Are you kidding me? C'mon boys.....I smell fear coming from all over GM not only the execs but the company as a whole. Why not say anything towards Mercedes? how about Ford? etc., etc. why not? Simple fact.......they are not a "direct competitve threat".......TOYOTA and LEXUS is. They just cannot get over the fact that for as long as they have been in the game, that they are continuing to loose gound and fast because of Toyota and future competitors alike such as Hyundai. That all GM have left is nothing but words of poor creditability among other competitors weather it is big or small. Instead of just saying noisy BS, just try building quality cars. Okay, so they have a couple of cars that finally made it to the top of the reliability list, that great and congrats. But these so called "testers" should add a list of cars that can be a reliable for the next 10 to 15, even 20 years. And lets see where GM will fall in the ranks. GM execs.....who are they? Golfers with allot of time on their hands, quick thinkers with no patience. And even with patience thier is no quality within in them to even reach the competitive automotive status. Its funny to see them brag about making 63 million cars world wide and expect to hit 85 million, but not say that at least 60-70% of that is like their stocks....."Junk Status"

chuckb

Please.......I guess this was the best marketing shot they could take at Toyota.

Nice of them to stab Toyota in the back after Toyota agreed to keep prices higher just to help pathetic GM out.

SoCalSC4

Nice... "we suck, but so do they!"

Rather than point fingers, I would suggest the GM create a solution to their woes and move forward.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

wow, pretty amazing about what's coming out of that guy's mouth.... he ran out of topics to talk about or what?

he should look at what's on his desk first before talking about others. bottom line is toyota/lexus is still holding top positions in quality, that's CURRENT data, not living off the past reputation. GM is leading too -- in recalls.... very sad to see GM has such an executive like that....