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What's your issue with this paragraph about Toyota, exactly? I get that kaizen, with its emphasis on boring notions like quality control, slow & careful iterati

What's your issue with this paragraph about Toyota, exactly? I get that kaizen, with its emphasis on boring notions like quality control, slow & careful iteration, etc. is at odds with fashionable Silicon Valley ideas of blitzscaling or an under-five-years "cash out, bro down" company cycle, but it's undeniably true that Toyota did revolutionize the auto industry.

mikekchar 7y ago
Indeed. I'm anxiously waiting Toyota's entry into the EV market. In Japan they have a fair amount of catchup given that the entire fast charging infrastructure is basically being run by Nissan and Mitsubishi... However I'm sure they have something up their sleeves. I'm extremely interested in the fact that Toyota has chosen Panasonic as their battery supplier. Toyota and Panasonic's headquarters are only a little over an hour a way by Shinkansen... If I were Toyota I would be wandering over to Osaka fairly frequently to make sure that my company was getting more than our fair share of the available batteries...
- taneq 7y ago
  They keep doubling down on hydrogen even when it's clearly not working. Other than that they seem perfectly content to keep cranking out vehicles with their once groundbreaking but now aging hybrid synergy drive system. Unfortunately I think it'll take a change of guard at Toyota's highest levels to get them back in the innovation game.
  - mikekchar 7y ago
    This is the second time I've heard that, but I see no evidence from here in Japan that they are doing anything with hydrogen these days. Can you point me to some references? Edit: I should point out as well that they are actually building EV cars right now. They have a joint venture with several other Japan car manufacturers. They will start selling for the 2020 sales year (which I expect will start pretty soon).
    - taneq 7y ago
      They're not doing anything with hydrogen, they're just hanging onto the "hydrogen future" bluff that U.S. car companies used to kill the CARB EV mandate and have now all but abandoned. I mean, check the tag line on Toyota's own site: https://www.toyota.com/alternative-fuel/ https://www.toyota.com/alternative-fuel/ Hybrid. Plug-in Hybrid (yay?). Fuel Cell EV. That's their game plan. Even then the only plug-in hybrid is the Prius, none of their other cars seem to be plug-in capable.

mikekchar 7y ago

Indeed. I'm anxiously waiting Toyota's entry into the EV market. In Japan they have a fair amount of catchup given that the entire fast charging infrastructure is basically being run by Nissan and Mitsubishi... However I'm sure they have something up their sleeves. I'm extremely interested in the fact that Toyota has chosen Panasonic as their battery supplier. Toyota and Panasonic's headquarters are only a little over an hour a way by Shinkansen... If I were Toyota I would be wandering over to Osaka fairly frequently to make sure that my company was getting more than our fair share of the available batteries...

taneq 7y ago
They keep doubling down on hydrogen even when it's clearly not working. Other than that they seem perfectly content to keep cranking out vehicles with their once groundbreaking but now aging hybrid synergy drive system. Unfortunately I think it'll take a change of guard at Toyota's highest levels to get them back in the innovation game.
- mikekchar 7y ago
  This is the second time I've heard that, but I see no evidence from here in Japan that they are doing anything with hydrogen these days. Can you point me to some references? Edit: I should point out as well that they are actually building EV cars right now. They have a joint venture with several other Japan car manufacturers. They will start selling for the 2020 sales year (which I expect will start pretty soon).
  - taneq 7y ago
    They're not doing anything with hydrogen, they're just hanging onto the "hydrogen future" bluff that U.S. car companies used to kill the CARB EV mandate and have now all but abandoned. I mean, check the tag line on Toyota's own site: https://www.toyota.com/alternative-fuel/ https://www.toyota.com/alternative-fuel/ Hybrid. Plug-in Hybrid (yay?). Fuel Cell EV. That's their game plan. Even then the only plug-in hybrid is the Prius, none of their other cars seem to be plug-in capable.