The United States of Toyota is many stories in one. First and foremost, it is a business story, detailing the decline of the American automobile industry – and the simultaneous rise of an Asian manufacturer to take its place. It is also a history book, providing an intimate portrait of the larger-than-life personalities and cars that led the American auto industry through its glory days and down the path toward extinction. It is a political/current affairs piece, presenting the rise of a Japanese company – Toyota – not just in terms of its sales success but also in terms of its cultural success, as it works to assimilate into American society. And finally, it is a never-before-seen primer on Detroit – The Motor City – a town and a region dominated by the auto companies, their suppliers and their ad agencies – and by a mindset and culture all its own. FROM THE UNITED STATES OF TOYOTA: People who flippantly dismiss the fate of the domestic automobile industry in general are simply missing the point. I continue to be amazed by Toyota’s “enablers” -- the media intelligentsia on both coasts and certain members of Congress in Washington (who just happen to have import auto plants in their states) who dance around this issue, insisting that whats going on in Detroit will not negatively affect the entire country in some way, shape or form. The core issues facing Detroit – global competitiveness, U.S. trade imbalances, healthcare costs and pension funding – are issues we as a nation must deal with – right now. This is not some isolated bad tiding that will only affect the Rust Belt in the forlorn flyover states, as the mid-section of the country is often derisively referred to. No, this situation spells trauma for the entire country. Between 1 in 12 and 1 in 14 jobs in this country are still either directly or indirectly related to the domestic automobile business. Think about that statistic for a moment and then insist that it somehow “wont affect me.” unitedstatesoftoyota/
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 10:52:27 +0000
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