Toyota Re-call Hides China's Big Move
Okay, this will be my last comment about the whole Toyota re-call thing. But the whole political and media circus that surrounds the recent Congressional hearings and the various investigations that the accusations and hearings have spawned just seem out of proportion. It's even got me thinking "conspiracy theory."
Last week, I crunched some numbers that basically say that this whole brake problem thing may have been unreasonably pumped up. The fact is we may be looking at incidents and accidents that are essentially random events with no clear connection to a brake pedal, a floor pad or any other quality short-fall Toyota may or may not have.
I've heard it proposed that maybe Toyota's being picked on to help boost American car manufacturer sales. In the past, I would have just dismissed this sort of thing as paranoid, but then again, I would have laughed at the notion that the government would "rescue" GM. So now I'm not so quick to dismiss.
Whatever is going on, Toyota's the whipping boy for now. Don't feel too sorry for them. They've got all sorts of lawyers and public relations people to deal with all this. And in spite of Mr. Toyoda having to fly half way around the world to appear in Washington last week, I'm sure he didn't travel coach.
But you don't have to be paranoid or a conspiracy theorist to notice that all the Toyota bashing came right at the time China's auto sales took over the #1 spot from the U.S. Yep, you read that right. More cars are now sold in China than here in the U.S. Not much brouhaha over that lately, not with all the Toyota buzz.
Now you could come back and say that, sure, more cars are sold in China because, well, they've got more people - a whole heck of a lot more people. You'd be right about that - they've got more people. The U.S population's a bit over 300 million. The Chinese population's somewhere just north of one billion. Big difference, no doubt.
On the other hand, the Chinese have had that many more people than the U.S. for a long, long time. And until now they not only didn't sell more cars in China, the Chinese pretty much got around on bicycles. If you don't remember all those shots of millions of Chinese tooling around Beijing on two-wheelers, you're either too young to remember, you've forgotten, or you weren't paying attention in the first place.
I remember. Just like I remember all those "Mao" outfits Chinese all wore while they were riding their bikes or doing anything else. Remember how they used to dress in China? Everyone wore the same outfit. It was part of the great wisdom of the Communists at the time that everyone needed to look the same. Everyone looked like Chairman Mao and his cronies. That was then.
OK, so things change. And they've changed big time in China. In fact, there are now more millionaires in China than anywhere else, too. Not that being a millionaire's such a big deal anymore. But still, could you have imagined that only, let's say, ten years ago - that China would have more wealthy people than any other country?
There's a lot out there about how China's headed for a fall. It wouldn't surprise me if their economy gets bumpy, or even if their stock market crashes. But don't kid yourself. China's the new kid on the block - whether or not the media's paying attention.
Last week, I crunched some numbers that basically say that this whole brake problem thing may have been unreasonably pumped up. The fact is we may be looking at incidents and accidents that are essentially random events with no clear connection to a brake pedal, a floor pad or any other quality short-fall Toyota may or may not have.
I've heard it proposed that maybe Toyota's being picked on to help boost American car manufacturer sales. In the past, I would have just dismissed this sort of thing as paranoid, but then again, I would have laughed at the notion that the government would "rescue" GM. So now I'm not so quick to dismiss.
Whatever is going on, Toyota's the whipping boy for now. Don't feel too sorry for them. They've got all sorts of lawyers and public relations people to deal with all this. And in spite of Mr. Toyoda having to fly half way around the world to appear in Washington last week, I'm sure he didn't travel coach.
But you don't have to be paranoid or a conspiracy theorist to notice that all the Toyota bashing came right at the time China's auto sales took over the #1 spot from the U.S. Yep, you read that right. More cars are now sold in China than here in the U.S. Not much brouhaha over that lately, not with all the Toyota buzz.
Now you could come back and say that, sure, more cars are sold in China because, well, they've got more people - a whole heck of a lot more people. You'd be right about that - they've got more people. The U.S population's a bit over 300 million. The Chinese population's somewhere just north of one billion. Big difference, no doubt.
On the other hand, the Chinese have had that many more people than the U.S. for a long, long time. And until now they not only didn't sell more cars in China, the Chinese pretty much got around on bicycles. If you don't remember all those shots of millions of Chinese tooling around Beijing on two-wheelers, you're either too young to remember, you've forgotten, or you weren't paying attention in the first place.
I remember. Just like I remember all those "Mao" outfits Chinese all wore while they were riding their bikes or doing anything else. Remember how they used to dress in China? Everyone wore the same outfit. It was part of the great wisdom of the Communists at the time that everyone needed to look the same. Everyone looked like Chairman Mao and his cronies. That was then.
OK, so things change. And they've changed big time in China. In fact, there are now more millionaires in China than anywhere else, too. Not that being a millionaire's such a big deal anymore. But still, could you have imagined that only, let's say, ten years ago - that China would have more wealthy people than any other country?
There's a lot out there about how China's headed for a fall. It wouldn't surprise me if their economy gets bumpy, or even if their stock market crashes. But don't kid yourself. China's the new kid on the block - whether or not the media's paying attention.
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