A friend of mine just bought a Matrix because her Durango kept breaking and was a gas hog. She told me the new ride was built in a Pontiac plant, and was, infact, a Vibe. Pete, et. al., you must know that message was like fingernails on chalkboard to me. "Look it up on the net, you'll see."
So it's sort of true. The Matrix is actually built in Toyota's Canada plant. It's actually a Corolla with a body kit, and the Vibe is a Corolla with a different body kit. Both are powered by a presumably bulletproof Toyota 4-cylinder (designed and built by Yamaha, if you can believe that).
The 'Pontiac plant' is actually a joint venture company built in the ashes of a GM facility closed in the early '80s. GM and Toyota and of course the LABOR unions began making Corollas and Novas back in the day. They soon added Toy pickups and Geo cars. They punch out like 160,000 Tacomas a year from the one plant in California. It's where the Vibe is built and the for-Japan Matrix.
Anyways, let me wisper some sweet nothings I found in my e-travels:
"McFalls says that the Lexus concept is to make everything to nominal. In other words, everything must be kept to zero, not plus or minus. He notes that this is something that they?ve worked hard to make their suppliers understand. It?s not about a range. It?s about zero."
" "I don?t want to let any of the people who buy our cars down,? McFalls says. While quality is sometimes defined as being ?unexpected delight,? it is also about a car that starts every morning and doesn?t have squeaks, rattles, and recalls."
"Where it has had the biggest benefit is in the area of doing things right up front. As Yoshida explains, ?By front-loading the combined experience and knowledge of the entire team, we drew a more accurate blueprint of how the vehicle would emerge from the assembly line."
"How many chief engineers can make this statement: ?Zero design changes were made after final blueprints were set?? One that we know of.
That?s the power of upfront work.
It has contributed to a reduction in development cost. By reducing development cost, it is possible to add more content to the vehicle, to provide more value to the customer. More effective engineering can mean more competitive vehicles."
And lastly,
?Within Toyota, Corolla is seen by many as the DNA of corporate engineering. When it was launched in 1966, it made a defining statement: that quality, reliability and durability could be affordable. . . . Corolla was the starting point for a thread that has run through every Toyota, regardless of segment or price range, for the last 35 years. In every Camry?in every Lexus?there is the soul of a Corolla.? ?Takeshi Yoshida, Corolla chief engineer, Toyota Motor Corp."
So when you're cruising up to the lake and you slide your Epic down the ramp like Dirk Diggler, turn the key over and hear the familiar sound of your surgically-perfected engine wake from another slumber, you think to yourself....
...oh what a feeling!
Then you jump out of the truck, slide on the ramp snot and break your tailbone.
