What happened to Toyota Trucks?

I see a little bit of all the "big 3" in the Tundra.

 

COM ‘on dude's this is the dumbest thread ever! Are you 2nd gen's going to start to cry? So this guys facts are off, does not make him a bad person just one that does not know what he's talking about!

ROCK ON TACOMA'S 1st and 2nd Gen's

 

My biggest problem with Toyota trucks "these days" is that they are moving from their functional, dependable, no frills mantra and moving towards the strip-mall-crawling weinee crowd.

Ultimately, Toyota is headed the way of GM. That is to say, that are building (and charging dearly for) vehicles that a small segment of the population wants and ignoring the base that made them what they were. For God sakes, what idiot is going to pay $38k+ for a Camaro with Sat-Nav, heated seats, and all of that other happy horseshit?

It's time car companies start building no-frills vehicles that are dependable and affordable. All of this uber-homo Voice-Sync crap is for the Starbucks/iCrowd.

The most luxurious a vehicle should be is power door locks, mirrors, and windows, cruise control and a single disk CD Player. Anything more than that is absurd.

I'm also pissed (sorry, I'm on my soapbox now) Toyota is moving away from American-sourced parts and labor and having it done in Mexico. Could someone explain to me when the prices of Toyotas have drastically reduced that happened to coincide with more and more parts coming from Mexico? For instance, Toyota seat coverings used to be installed in Kentucky. Not anymore, I believe nearly all of Toyota's seats are now covered in Mexico. Did we see a $400 drop in price because of that, hell no. The vehicles are more expensive with crappier parts.

My wife's 2009 Camry is already showing some ugly signs of the "fit and finish" being much crummier than my 2003 Tacoma or our previous 2003 Lexus IS300.

Here's an example of what car companies (GM in this example, but Toyota should watch and learn) should do:

1) Get the hell out of that God-forsaken wasteland called Detroit and move to a right to work state. They can pick, I don't care.

2) Build a Camaro with A/C, cloth seats, minimal power options (mirrors, windows, locks - not seats, not sunroof, no heated mirrors, nothing else), LS engine, 17" wheels (screw 20" wheels or whatever), forget all of the stupid yuppie creature comforts, offer a manual and auto and then offer an RS model. Give people back the power of the "option-delete," price them for $21k and sell the hell out of them.

3) Take the same approach with a Silverado and make bank.

Toyota should follow suit with their own lines of vehicles.

EDIT: After re-reading my post, it was pretty much about how screwed up GM is and not "where did the Tacomas go wrong." Regardless, the bigger points to which I am speaking to hold true for GM as well as Toyota. It's about market studies, bean-counters and the damn EPA.

 

Dude slow down, where u been? nothing is made in US anymore it's assembled here. everything goes out to the lowest bidder. becareful when you press that non US button on you pc, or any pc.. laptop ect.

 

Not to be a butthead, but you have totally missed the point. The point I was attempting to make (and yes, I know nearly everything is coming from somewhere else) is that Toyota is going away from exactly what changed their 1960's reputation.

In the 1960's, people thought Toyota's were complete hunks of Japanese junk...and they were. The oil embargo hit, and people were moving from the gas guzzlers to the little foreign cars because of MPGs. Toyota began the Japanese way of "take a good idea and make it better." They also began to realize that building their cars here would help to combat hatred towards foreign vehicles. It worked. However, now they are starting to source more and more parts and labor out of the country which will undo the two big things that helped make them great. Good parts and good labor.

It's their grave and they are doing fine digging it. I'm just saying it sucks because in 10 years, I'll probably hate Toyotas and the Korean cars will take their place.

 

Make room for a new generation buddy, it happened to your parents, my parents and it's going to happen to us.no stopping it.

 

Ummm, why are people still complaining about this moron's thread? He's obviously a tool, let it go. All this does is feed the douchebag fire.

 

naa... just responding to TacomaJPP's rant.

 

No denying that.

 

what u dont want in a vehicle doesnt mean other people dont either. what u are bitching about is what the majority of people want in a vehicle. plenty of people have spent 38k for a loaded camaro. you are the minority, not the majority. the point of any business is to make money. to do that they have to offer what people want at a price they are willing to pay. thats why there are options at different prices. and u know what? people are buying the stuff that u think people dont want. just because u dont want a double din headunit with nav, doesnt mean no one else wants it either.

people that want a rugged hard core 4wheeler are a very very small market. if you were a car company, why would u cater to those people and not to the other billion people that want what the tacoma offers? guess where ur going to make the most money with?

 

This ^

 

Right On Brother!

 

I smell a troll!

 

If your not driving what you love,
learn to love what you drive.

 

I understand what you are saying, but don't think I'm saying Toyota should build a Tacoma with an SAS to please TTORA or TW. That's not it at all. The "average" person (whatever that is ) doesn't really know what they want. They just buy whatever is in front of them.

A Toyota Truck isn't supposed to be a Toyota Corolla with a bed...but that's where we are heading (there is no 2nd gen dig intended in any part of that).

I'm just saying that they are leaving the things that made them a great company and following a fad. I think they should build dependable, capable, (which is defined by whatever class of vehicle we are talking about: truck, car, minivan) and affordable. People want bang for their buck and I think Toyota is driving down the road of the Big Three.

 

Me?

 

Am I in this new generation you speak of? (teen)

I agree they should also make ones built tough, with tough options. I like some frills, but not schmitty useless ones.

 

Second gen. has the side air bags, so a few more inches, here and there. With all the texting, d.u.i.s good to have a little more protection, for safety sake. Second gen. grew on me as time moved on.

 

factual information here.

 

Just remembered that little important detail. God I pray I'm not in an accident in my truck. I have ONE airbag that only deploys from front end collisions. I will now try to be even more cautious driving. Crash test ratings suck for first gens.