Thursday, January 28, 2010

Toy-woe-ta


It will take some time to sort through the headlines and analysis of this recall crisis, but it's worth repeating that we here at J and D Auto Talk saw this coming two years ago, going on record in February 2008 (Toyota production is down - no kidding) with a follow up in August of that same year (Hey Toyota, I hate to say "I told you so...").

We were bang on, not based on regurgitating what every one else was saying at the time, but by our own sifting of the available data through the filter of our own way of looking at the industry. This process doesn't go half-baked, so stay tuned, we'll have a thought on this before too long.



Thursday, January 14, 2010

Oh no, not another one


David Welch is writing that VW is the car giant to watch, and why is that? Well, because "Volkswagen is bent on displacing Toyota as the world's biggest car company—and it just may succeed."

Part of VW's strategy? Abandon their odd ball attempt to move upscale (which made no sense to me since they already have Audi doing quite well and the entire concept of Volkswagen - "the people's car" - was to be affordable), and move into the entry level cars. So, basically, more volume of low-profit margin vehicles - oy vey!

Hey, Volkswagen, please see


I agree with Premier McGuinty, drivers should decide




It certainly doesn't happen often that I find myself saying "I agree with Premier McGuinty", but in this case, I do. All drivers - seniors included - must be responsible for deciding when it's time to stop driving, rather than tightening legislation, regulation and enforcement on the arbitrary basis of age.