A chip in the Teflon

We all know how the pundits are in awe of hybrids right now, and how dealers just can't keep enough of them in stock. Thankfully, I saw this post on my regular hunting ground for auto industry-related discussion at GM InsideNews.com. It made me feel a little better that a columnist in a national publication is calling Toyota on its hypocrisy. Granted, it isn't the New York Times, but it's a good start. The columnist, Kevin Wilson points out that Toyota's nicely-honed 'green' image isn't all that it's cracked up to be.

Some of us thought that—hybrids aside—Toyota was busily selling mega-SUVs like the aptly named giant Sequoia and aptly nicknamed Land Crusher, not to mention designing ever-more bloated Lexi for fat cats. Fine cars, but not saviors of the earth—at least not until Toyota makes good on its pledge to hybridize everything it makes.

Along with Toyota's efforts to promote its visage as an environmental stalwart, Toyota is also spending more than a boatload of Scions worth of money to promote itself as an "American" company, talking about how many people it employs in its U.S. factories, and how many people who sell and service their cars. First off, I think anyone who buys into the "sells and services" numbers are as dumb as dumb gets, since the demand of cars will dictate that there will be a given amount of people buying cars, and thusly, a given number of would be selling them, regardless of brand. It wouldn't affect how many people are employed if they're selling a Ford or a Lexus. More importantly, Honda and Toyota could employs as many, or even more people in the U.S., than GM or Ford, and they'll never be an American company. Why? Because all of their senior management are Japanese, and their shareholders/stakeholders/keiretsu-mates are all Japanese. GM's shareholder base is all American, and any company with large international operations will still operate according to the norms and values of the country where it has the most shareholders. For instance, when U.S. public opinion sided against apartheid in the mid-1980s, and divestment became a popular activist issue, GM listened to its shareholders, and withdrew from South Africa via shareholder resolution. None of the Japanese companies even batted an eye, and they instead continued to invest and operate under the white-ruled regime. That's the real difference between an American company and a Japanese one. Most Japanese don't own shares the way Americans do, and they usually don't raise a fuss and stink about certain 'politically-tinged' issues. And I'm sure Toyota's shareholders don't care if they did continue to support the apartheid regime. Also, if you want to measure a company's real allegiances, look at who they tap to run central office. Toyota's top officers are all male, and Japanese. GM and Ford, on the other hand, has plenty of foreign-born top executives. And you can't tell me that in over 18 years of building cars here in the U.S., that Toyota can't find one of their American managers to be part of their inner circle. It's about time someone called them on the spot about this.

R-r-rrun-run-run-run runaway.....

With apologies to the late Del Shannon, I had to chime in on this 'runaway bride' story which has usurped the media's attention this past weekend, along with Jeff Gordon taking Talladega with restrictor plates in place. Heck, even wire services like China's Xinhua are picking up on it and 'running' with it. So, the poor lady didn't want to go through with the pressure of a 600 person wedding, decides to make a break for it, goes Greyhound to Texas, and makes a false kidnapping claim. The poor groom, who is now fodder for every comedian in this country who have run out of material since the trial that made the Berkeley Marina a version of Rockingham North ended, has to put on a brave face and continue to profess his love for the most disliked woman in America who's not in politics on national TV interviews. He has to. I'm sure, being from the South, his sense of honor dictates even if your betrothed goes out there and makes you (the Groom) the biggest dupe since Neville Chamberlain, you still have to stand up for her. I think he's already moved on from an emotional standpoint. Ya think he's going to spend time and effort going through with the wedding sometime down the road, as it was planned, with 600 guests and stuff? If he went through with the wedding ceremony, and accepted it as a mere postponement, albeit a very messy one, I think a more appropriate venue for it would be, say, the Georgia Dome, what with all the media vultures who will want to cover it. I don't think anyone who was on their original guest list will want to miss it, that's for sure. I'm sure someone has already put their original invites on EBay. Okay, no one wants to be the spoiler for a big ceremony, but I always thought it was the women who wanted to undertake such large, complicated, and ridiculously expensive and overwrought affairs. Maybe it was the parents, maybe it was the friends, or maybe it was some kind of childhood fantasy of hers, but I bet your next fill-up that the Groom didn't push for one. He just went along to make his bride happy. Guys don't want such large weddings. They just want to get the ceremony over with, bypass the reception, and fly out to Tahiti with their new wife. I mean, imagine the pressure. And yet we don't have movies called "The Runaway Groom." For good reason. Because any abandonment the guy will do usually comes after the first skipped rent payment and a drive out to get cigarettes, or whatever people do these days. I feel for the guy. He is the ultimate portrait of a schmuck who did everything to win the heart of his girl, and was rewarded so.