In spite of shrinking resources, market share, and credibility, the venerable Gray Lady has poured resources into trashing Toyota, the chief competitor of the paper’s drinking buddies — the White House and the UAW.
Look at the depth of their investigations, which, by the way, far exceed the number of documents or years the New York Times reviewed while “vetting” candidate Obama:
Of the 12,700 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration consumer complaints analyzed by The Times, the Ford Motor Company had the most, about 3,500.
Toyota ranked second, with about 3,000 complaints, but those were linked to far more accidents — 1,000 — compared to 450 crashes for Ford.
Odd. Taking the time to trash Ford while they’re at it? How comprehensive of them. More:
A separate examination by The Times of transport ministry records in Japan revealed a similar finding. In reports since 2001, Toyota vehicles have been cited with a greater frequency in complaints of sudden acceleration than those of other major carmakers.
Missing from this article is any mention of the ownership interests of the federal government. They somehow missed mentioning it as well in this other above-the-website-fold article.
The bloom on the GM rose gets a better perspective in Business Week:
Sales to businesses and government buyers drove GM’s growth. While Chevrolet posted a 32 percent increase, deliveries to dealerships were up only 1 percent, GM said. Chevrolet makes up 70 percent of the company’s U.S. volume.
Ford Motor Co., based in Dearborn, Michigan, may say sales rose 33 percent, while Auburn Hills, Michigan-based Chrysler Group LLC probably will post an 18 percent decline, according to the average estimates.
If not for the federal baby-daddy, GM would not have faired so well – 1% growth in dealership deliveries is insignificant. Further, it seems that Ford is doing better – but that didn’t fit the Times’s narrative.
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44 Comments
Would anyone expect anything more from the progressive government's version of Pravda? Rumor is the NYT is for sale and the value is dropping every day.
Ford is a successful enterprise that didn't rely on government subsidies to stay fiscally solvent, so of course they're going to trash them, but GM is still making “some of the most popular commercials on the market.''
Radio news reports here in Cleveland, OH yesterday mentioned a GM recall of a couple Chevy models. Good thing the press will be all over this….
Oh, who owns GM? Never mind.
step right up and buy a Lada…
Or a Zil, or a Yugo. Yep, the Gummint makes good cars for the peoples, they really do. What a joke.
GM is now run by one of Rahm Emanuel's best friends. Not likely to be turned over to the private sector any time soon.
Or ever.
If you cannot compete on a level playing field, business competes harder. This bunch will just slant the field to their favor. So, the assault on Toyota, and Nissan- with Honda next, no doubt- will continue. Meanwhile GM continues the fiction of the Chevy Volt (where is it, by the way?) with a technology SO dangerous to make the Toyota problem seem child's play.
NiCad batteries burn at sveral thousand degrees. Imagine a Volt in an accident, smouldering- and you are the firsd responder. You have Dante's inferno possibly awaiting you. Understand that a complex machine will always have some issues, and recalls are part of the process.
But this is a hit job on the foreign manufacturers. Maybe that's why the Japanese dumped 12 billion in T-notes last week. They have a saying in Japan- 'good for you, good for me'…
Welcome to the fundamentally transformed Amerika.
That fetid smell is from the Times Bathhouse. The National Socialists are having fun in the old lady's pool.
And this is the best that the Times has ever been. In the past they only supported Hitler and Stalin. Now they support the fundamental transformation of American into the Obama-nation of desolation.
Gov't Times wrote a puff piece about Gov't Motors.
And I'm supposed to be outraged?
Well, you can’t buy a new car if you don’t have a job. How is that hopey changy working out for you as the saying goes?
Destroy your enemy. That is what Toyota is to these officials. Make yourself look good by making the other look bad.
Moocherment motors is a better phrase. Destroy yor competition so you look look better even though you suck big time.
I am not a fan of Obama or his union buddies, what I am a fan of is American companies. Just exactly what type of complaints are we talking about…Ford sudden acceleration or? Me thinks you are a Toyota hack that has a bone to pick with American companies. I say Japanese arrogance and consumers who don't know a thing sunk Toyota!
Dcase, you obviously don't know what you are talking about. The battery chemistry is not the kind that explodes, that is Toyotas path. As far as a level playing field, why do Asians limit our exports? Did you Know prior to WWII Ford had 50% of the Japanese market….level playing field my ask!
Tho Old Grey Lady has been fundamentally transformed into America's Favorite Fish Wrap…
I'm about as anti-Obama as they come, but to say the NYTimes and the media are in the pocket of GM is just silly. For YEARS Thomas Friedman and Co. have blathered on and on about how great Toyota is. How the Prius could solve all our problems and how big, bad GM made nothing but "gas guzzling SUVs".
That would make an interesting book, to chronicle the Times and their coverage of totalitarian regimes in the 20th century.
I wonder if the keepers of the flame at the old gray lady would be surprised to find out there is a whole wide world out west of the Alleghenys? And REAL people live here!!
If the NYT is for sale, Brietbart should buy it, and "Hannitize" it by putting Sean Hannity in as editor.
They would be a business success once more if they only started telling the truth.
-Ben
It's not good enough for my fish….
Who is Thomas Friedman ?
Toyota builds a lot of cars in America, provides good jobs to a lot of fly-over-country folks, I could see where a Liberal would want to damage that.
Don't forget the automotive media (Motor Trend/Car & Driver). They have been in the hip pocket of Toyota and Honda for years. And Fords are junk. Ask my sister-in-law, whose family has been driving Fords since the Model T, and she's driving a Pontiac Vibe. She and my brother had a '93 Explorer and a '97 F150 and both of them blew engines and were traded for the Vibe and an '05 Dodge Dakota, respectively. Don't tell my Dad about Fords, either. When I was little, we had a '58 sedan and a '64 Falcon van (passenger vans had Falcon nameplates in the early 60s) and they were in the shop constantly. Fix Or Repair Daily.
Hm. I wonder what could have changed their minds. Thinking … thinking … hmmmm. Any ideas?
Hint: It's freakin' obvious.
Toyota was building good cars when the UAW was turning our American car companies to junk marts. GM is no longer an American car company, BTW. There is nothing less American than a government-owned car company. The fact that one car owner has the power to restrict, regulate, fine and investigate their competition is about as UN-American as you can get.
So, yeah, I see a lot of hysteria over some problems that were likely driver-caused for the most part. And the gov't is piling on. Don't dare think Ford isn't going to get their day in the heat, too. It's coming.
Ackz! Not Hannity! Mark Steyn, please.
Better yet put Palin and Beck in charge. Not only would the progressives implode, but maybe they wouldn't even need a government bailout to stay afloat.
As a taxpayer, I want Toyota and all the non-union manufacturers DESTROYED. I don't want choices I want My presidnet to suckceed!!!
EVERY good liberal here in the left-armpit of America, Portland, Oregon, drives a Japanese car. Either a Toyota Prius or a Subaru station wagon.
I wonder how many liberal heads will explode under the cognitive dissonant pressure of this latest about face in policy. They have been lectured and hectored for decades about the evils of the American gas guzzler and they all drive Japanese cars now. Now the party bosses at the NYT are telling them the exact opposite: GM goooood, Toyota baaaddd…. Reminds me of the commies at the NYT being anti-war against Socialist Germany until Socialist Germany attacked communist Russia, and suddenly the leftist NYT is pro-war on Nationalist Germany.
The number of complaints seems meaningless, unless it is based upon the percentage of cars each company has sold. I believe Ford sells the most, so why wouldn’t they have more complaints.
what was meant to be said was Lithium Ion batteries, not NiCad. They are unstable and burn at several thousand degrees, and it's why the Japs are staying away from that tech. GM is staking it's FUTURE on it and they can't even produce a decent prototype.
It's true the Japanese government supports their auto industry. But they don't OWN IT…
Normally I'd say this NYT piece is simply unreal but, regrettably, it has become the norm for many, many years now. As a Canadian I find it simply "unreal" that anyone buys they're liberal "pulp fiction".
The NYT (an most MSM) are like the boy who cried wolf. What wolf? I'm surprised I even waisted my time commenting on this kind of "crack-pot" journalism mascarading as real news.
Utterly ridiculous!
The volt? Now that's funny. What is the launch date of the green machine?
What a joke they are gonna give you tax credit to buy one.
If left to the will of the market it would bomb. How do they plan to
support the grid to charge all the new electric powered dream machines?
Remeber you can't burn coal to dirty.
The more successful ford becomes the more the msm will attack.
BigGov'ment…BigUnion….BigMedia….All in the sack together for a rousing menage-a-trois…and all dying of an "auto immune" disease….
Please, dear God… not Hannity.
He is on the side of the right – but he is too idealogical to be believable. He ignores facts when it suits him, and has lost crediblity with me.
All Car Companies should have came forward with a full disclosures of what car were dangerous. Instead of waiting for a huge media blitz and tons of public pressure. I never seen so many car companies GM – FORD – TOYOTA – HYUNDAI having recalls all at the same time. I had no idea my car was affected until I searched on http://www.carpedalrecall.com and found I had a bad Anti Lock control unit on my 2008 Pontiac G8 , my co workers Ford Truck had a recall also. So be careful
The Chicago Way: "Nice little car companies you've got there Toyota and Ford. It would be a shame if something were to happen to them."
I just wonder how much longer the old gray lady can hang on….oh wait, O will be there to raise her from the dead!
Anyone needing a car should buy a Toyota! We can't make them hear us any other way. Maybe they'll hear us this way. Numbers don't lie like politicians do.
The NYT Brahahahahha. Man have they not figured out they are seen as liars by just about anybody out of New York City? If I buy another American car it will be a Ford. I will never buy another vehicle from the Mob companies Chrysler and GM.
This president is acting like a dictator. I bet in history the most evil leaders started out popular(except those who overthrew their governments) and then put in their own government controls. Obama is on a fast track to being a copy of some of the worst in history.
Look for the bailout!
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The UAW a drinking buddy of the Times?? You have to be kidding. The NY Times pilloried the UAW and GM prior to the bankruptcy hearings. What planet were you on?
At this point in our history, with a 2,700 page healthcare bill on the table, I would not doubt that a mandate of everyone that gets free healthcare also will get a new Chevy!
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