The classic line from any autojournalist is to complain that, if car companies listened to car enthusiasts, they’d all be broke. But that is lazy thinking. If car companies only listened to their biggest fans they’d all be broke, sure, but not listening to them at all is also a terrible strategy. It’s therefore gratifying to see that Toyota has not just listened to gearheads, but it’s also profited greatly by doing so.
People love to talk, and I love to quote them on The Morning Dump. But quoting someone doesn’t mean I necessarily believe them. Do I believe Toyota’s boss when he says a car has to be fun? Yeah, I do. Nissan’s North American boss says they’re going to need to cut to the bone to survive. Do I believe that? Yes, very much so. North American suppliers say they need the USMCA trade agreement to make it through the long trade winter. Does that sound right? Absolutely, yes.
Elon Musk yesterday told folks at an economic forum that he’ll stop giving money to political campaigns for a while and a bunch of other stuff. Some of those statements might require a bit more verification.
Koji Sato: We No Longer Sell Cars Just With Model Updates
Toyota has been on quite a journey lately. The company known for the Supra, AE86, and Celica suddenly faced a situation in the early 2000s where its fastest cars were trucks or, for a short period of time, the dullest RAV4 ever made. That turned around with the appointment of Akio Toyoda, the enthusiast, as CEO.
It’s not that Toyota is Porsche all of a sudden; it’s just that every current car looks and feels like something a little more special than the beige appliances they had become. Not only is the Supra back, the spirit of the AE86 lives on in the GR86. Americans even get a hot rally hatch in the Corolla GR. Times are good.
Simultaneously, Toyota as a brand faced a lot of heat for not fully electrifying fast enough. Few people feel that way anymore, as the company’s focus on hybrids has allowed it to reach record profits. Would that change, now that there’s a new CEO in the form of Koji Sato? Apparently not, at least according to the Toyota outlet, Toyota Times:
“Recently, it feels like we are seeing fewer cars of the kind that match President Sato’s tastes—exciting, fun to drive. What are your thoughts in this regard?” The venue’s rather tense atmosphere abruptly lightened, and even President Sato’s voice sounded brighter.
“Thank you for your question about making cars exciting.
I feel entirely the same way, which is to say, you’re exactly right. A car is not a car if it’s not fun. That’s why we will never allow our cars to become commodities.
Gone are the days when everything was determined by logical left-brain thinking, and cars sold by simply having better catalog specs.
We can no longer sell cars just with model updates, slightly better fuel efficiency, or new designs. It comes down to your passion for making products that move people’s hearts.”
The gulf between doing the right thing and saying the right thing is sometimes as wide as a Bosozoku Alphard, but in this case, I gave Sato credit. Even the Prius feels sporty and special this year. Last night, Toyota even added a GR trim level to its 2026 RAV4, with 320 horsepower and a couple of spoilers. We’ll see how much of this fun survives the tariffs, I suppose.
Christian Meunier: We Need To Take Pretty Tough Measures Right Now
Yeah, so, Nissan has had some issues as of late. The company is hurting in North America, which is the one place it really needs to get profits up. What’s the plan for that? Nissan Americas Chairman Christian Meunier is reportedly running around yelling ‘cut’ like he’s Greta Gerwig.
Meunier, who returned to the Japanese company in January, didn’t sugarcoat the challenge.
“We need to take pretty tough measures right now,” he said in a May 16 interview. “What doesn’t sell cars, what doesn’t take care of the customer and make money for the company, we‘re going to freeze, postpone or cancel.”
It’s not entirely bleak. Meunier also wants a new Xterra like yesterday, and also told Automotive News that “we need the U.S. to rock and roll again.”
Maybe move the HQ from Nashville to Memphis?
Auto Supplier President: We Need USMCA
MEMA, the industry group representing the auto suppliers, likes to point out to people that its members represent the largest portion of manufacturing in the United States. For them, one would assume, all of these tariffs are a net good thing as it’ll bring even more manufacturing here and, therefore, bring more work.
So why are they freaking out?
Per The Detroit News, it’s all about the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement:
“For the U.S. to be globally competitive, we need USMCA,” Paul McCarthy, president-elect of MEMA and president of its aftermarket suppliers group, said before the Automotive Press Association.
[…]
“This is an industry under pressure, and our strategies, our investments are on hold, and that’s not a good thing for what is the largest manufacturing sector in the U.S.,” McCarthy said, noting suppliers contribute 2.5% of U.S. economic activity.
Suppliers make some of the thinnest margins in the automotive sector and, worse, are often the first ones squeezed when automakers need to save money. Worst of all, though, is that suppliers and both Republican and Democratic administrations have generally agreed on the underlying concept of trade in North America, which is for free trade for goods. This includes the first term of President Trump, when he negotiated the USMCA.
From that same article:
“We’ve all invested for the last 20 or 30 years into the North America supply chain,” said Collin Shaw, president of MEMA’s original equipment suppliers group, “and every country in USMCA offers something unique and has something to bring to the table to ensure that, from a competitiveness standpoint, we can compete with the rest of the world.”
I think this is true, and these tariffs can be specifically shortsighted, especially in North America. If energy is cheaper in Canada, then it makes sense to process certain materials like aluminum in Canada, just like it makes sense to mine that material in the United States, where it’s more abundant. If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.
Elon Musk: I’ll Spend ‘A Lot Less’ On Politics In The Future
Tesla CEO Elon Musk paid a visit to the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha via a remote appearance; he said a lot of things, and I’m not going to cover them all in detail. The biggest statement is that he’ll stick around Tesla for at least another five years, and, given Musk’s famous tendency to let timing slip, I’ll just assume that means 10 years. He also got in a weird fight with former Microsoft Bill Gates that he wanted to litigate out in the open, according to Bloomberg:
Musk also fired back at Gates, who criticized him last week for the role he’s played in the Trump administration slashing tens of billions of dollars in assistance the US has provided to developing nations. The Microsoft Corp. co-founder told the Financial Times last week: “The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one.”
“Who does Bill Gates think he is to make comments about the welfare of children?” Musk responded.
When asked whether he’d checked if Gates is right that cuts to USAID might cost millions of lives, Musk challenged his fellow billionaire to “show us any evidence whatsoever that that is true. It’s false.”
The biggest thing that stood out to me was that Musk said he didn’t think challenges related to his politics are a big deal and that, this year, there won’t be any meaningful sales shortfall. The company’s sales in Q1 were not great.
While he downplayed that impact, Musk did say he was going to pull back from spending on politics, saying, “I think I’ve done enough.”
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
It was this huge deal when I was about eight years old that Michael Jackson would be debuting a new video, live on television. There was even a strange lead-up skit, I guess, with McCauley Culkin loudly listening to music. His dad is the actor George Wendt, who gets blown away by Culkin playing a bad riff. It’s extremely silly, but it seemed like a good way to remember the late actors. NORM!
The Big Question
Who is the least fun automaker? Who is the most fun?
Top Photo: Toyota
I’m sorry, this is like VW saying “it’s not a car unless it produces zero emissions” when the biggest thing they’re known for in the last 20 years is very much the opposite. Toyota made their fortune selling the epitome of boring, bland, beige, slow cars: the Prius, Corolla, and Camry – the current gen one being the only rental car in my life that I repeatedly forgot what I had after I got out of it.
No comment.
Meanwhile Toyota sells millions of not-cars every year. And about 10000 or so cars. Seems a good ratio to me.
“A car is not a car if it’s not fun”
It’s still a car…I get what they mean by the newer yodas being more fun, but this is just hilarious and ironic; since when I think of boring appliance cars the 1st company I think of is Toyota. That’s ok too since a lot of people just need a car and they have been so successful at it. I much prefer Honda which are also reliable dailys and are a little more fun- which is subjective anyway since most cars can be fun in the way you drive them. It’s just funny since I would consider most cars on the road these days as “not fun” especially all the CUV’s (pointless vehicles) and the sea of greyscale. Also, notice how most interiors look generally the same along w/ too many screens/nannies…it sucks. There are still some specific newer cars that are awesome though.
Also, most fun company would be Mazda
Most fun, I feel like it’s either porsche or mazda for a working class answer, none of their vehicles are truly numb to drive. I’d assume.
Least fun I’m saying ford because they’re in Fun Debt for canning the ST hatches and other various personal biases
“A car is not a car if it’s not fun. That’s why we will never allow our cars to become commodities.”
This is a ridiculous quote.
Listen, I’m not a fan of beige vehicles, but…it’s the car business. A company’s aim is to make as much money as possible by catering to as many customers as possible in order to be a going concern.
Toyota should embrace its inner Taylor Swift. They’ll never be Mr. Bungle.
Even if they lock Betty Crocker in the kitchen?
Knick-knack paddywhack!
Give a dog the “bone” taillights on newer Hyundais…
““Who does Bill Gates think he is to make comments about the welfare of children?” Musk responded.”
Um – He’s the guy who uses his massive wealth to fund this:
https://www.gatesfoundation.org/our-work/areas-of-impact/health
And this:
https://www.gatesfoundation.org/our-work/areas-of-impact/education
And this:
https://www.gatesfoundation.org/our-work/areas-of-impact/global-development
And this:
https://www.gatesfoundation.org/our-work/areas-of-impact/gender-equality
Meanwhile, Musk funds Fascism and self-dealing.
Seriously – Fuck that Ketamine-addled guy.
And fuck his companies.
Congrats Leon, You have just notified the general public that they will not be buying a Tesla for at least another 5 years. By then I’m sure the sports car will have arrived, and the Cyberfruck will be under 40K, and the cities will be populated with your cartaxi thing (word to the wise, watch those crosswalks folks), and you libertarian bent to change the world in your own image will have succeeded beyond your wildest dreams as you, of course, will hear over StarLink on your way to Mars. But more importantly I will be able to pick up an Ionic 5 for used Elantra prices.
I don’t see how Toyota’s boy band CEO thinking creating only cars wanted by fans is a smart move when 90% want affordable, dependable, reliable cars. Hey designing all cars for 10% of the market like socialism hasn’t worked anywhere ever, but hey maybe this time?
I’m assuming the ceo of toyota is aware of that and it’s mostly just fluff to sell gr products
Akio (aka Mr Morizo) started the GR line and it seems some of that spirit is starting to filter down to some of the newer models…
Maybe Musk could one-up Gates and take a low-res photo, holding a sheet of printer paper that has even grainier font on it, that says he will give anyone on Facebook who hits the share link $5,001. Could work!
Quite the line from the company who has built An Cars forever.
It still feels a little dirty for me to watch a MJ video with kids in it. The same way it feels icky to listen to the Beebs during his current meltdown, or anything involving Puffy. The whole situation is gross and disturbing to me.
ANYWAY….
Most fun for me will always be Lambo. Those folks just don’t give a fuck, lol.
Least fun has to be…no one? They all have at least one stinker, and at least one you would say “yes” to at two in the morning.
“The biggest thing that stood out to me was that Musk said he didn’t think challenges related to his politics are a big deal and that, this year, there won’t be any meaningful sales shortfall. The company’s sales in Q1 were not great.”
Yeah… Musk is seriously detached from reality on this particular subject. He seems to think that social consequences can’t lead to economic consequences.. as well as life-and-death consequences in some cases.
“Who is the least fun automaker? Who is the most fun?”
Least fun? Mitsubishi.
Most fun? My vote goes to Porsche as you can still get a rear engined and mid engined Porsche with a manual. Plus if your idea of fun is a BEV, Porsche has you covered there as well.
Aw, why the Mitsu hate?
Mitsubishi was the only one to invest in brightly coloured little cars until the Mirage faded away.
I love to look out in a sea of bleak silver/grey/black/white and see a bright purple or green Mirage out there. It makes me smile.
We need more of that.
Yeah but the Mirage has been discontinued… helping cement their ‘least fun’ win
Mitsubishi used to be a beacon of light….but it’s like that light has been blocked.
I wonder if there’s a word for that.
The real question is whether those sales hits will be longer-lasting or only temporary. I’m honestly expecting the latter – the past few years have shown a lot of people have the memory of a goldfish, especially when there’s a PR push. I’m not sure their sales will totally recover, especially with how much competition there is now and will be in a couple years, but they may get close.
I was listening to a true crime podcast the other day in which the narrator repeatedly noted how much the victim had loved her Ford Escort. The car was known to have various issues, but everyone in this young lady’s life commented on how much she seemed to enjoy that car. There are definitely cars that are built to be fun and cars that are just meh, but at the end of the day the fun car is the one you really enjoy driving.
In case we needed another reminder that Musk and the DOGE bags neither knew nor cared how many people their budget cuts would hurt, here it is.
I’m waiting for Leon to call Bill a pedo
I thought Bill was more well known for French kissing.
Not for a few years AFAIK.
I will say my recently purchased 2022 corolla SE is much more engaging and fun than the 2016 corolla I used to have. The CVT calibration is miles ahead on the newer car, acts like a well-tuned normal automatic and pulls down 41mpg highway. The ’22 feels like a much better spiritual successor than the ’16 for the ’92 corolla I used to have in college.
Most fun? Suzuki, but we’re not allowed to have fun things.
Least fun? Volvo. Sure they managed to have some fun in the past, but now they just seem to think bad ergonomics is fun. *MEH*
They think bad ergonomics is stylish.
That top shot FT-SE(why not SA[fast scrambled]) looks fun, but Sato’s pose there brought to mind the Seinfeld episode when he purposely loses the audience so his follow-up act won’t have a warm crowd. Who’s ready to have fun !?!
Least Fun: Mitsubishi (they have nothing fun)
Most Fun: Mazda (fun is purposefully designed in)
Bill Gates has come out saying he basically wants to die broke. I’m not sure how you crap on that under the current circumstances.
Gates has said it is all going to his foundation. So, what does that mean? It’s a tax shelter where he can pay his kids/friends/other family whatever, and this way the Gates family evades the whole pesky “gift tax” thingamadoo.
Don’t get it twisted. Gates is no saint.
Trump wiping his ass with the USMCA is the biggest issue with all these tariffs. If he’ll renege on his own “accomplishment” than any of these big, beautiful agreements that are supposedly being worked on now are meaningless since they will be ignored at his whim.
Least fun: Grumman
Most fun: Mitsubishi of the late 80s/early 90s, but I’m biased on this topic.
One of my college classmates had a small circus that went on tour with a Grumman Kerbmaster full of clowns and band instruments. So that was fun.
He bought it because “They landed on the moon with a Grumman”. Also there was a cow painted on the side.
Ok, that does sound fun.
I had a 1989 Dodge Raider from 1990-2012; it was a hoot. Badge engineered 2 door Mitsu Montero with V6, 5 speed manual and, for that year, coil spring rear suspension. The beige metallic paint was great. I still miss it.
Most fun has to be Morgan. They’ll happily sell you an updated version of the same car they’ve been building for the last 207 years, one made with wood framing for the bodywork (because they’ve always done it that way), a complete lack of any pretense of practicality, with a cupholder square in your crotch if you’re really that insistent upon it, why don’t you just drive already.
Musk lives in his own bubble of reality, bring all the evidence that proves he is wrong and he’ll never change his mind, he is always right, that’s the “reality” he is always talking about, anything different is clearly wrong.
Aside from the fact that you have no actual idea of what he thinks (the same applies for you and me and anyone else here about each other), it’d stand to reason that if you were the richest person in the world, you might start to believe the idea that what you are doing is working…
I’m not saying you are wrong, but zooming out a bit, I understand a bit about how he approaches life. Right, wrong, or indifferent.
“Aside from the fact that you have no actual idea of what he thinks….”
Actions speak louder than words.
I’m not sure what that means.
How can you claim that a stranger will never change their mind/words, and yourself claim that you know this with certainty?
This judgmental side of the comment section has to end. It makes no sense to talk about the mental wellbeing of someone you don’t know.
I already basically replied the same thing to Membrane. It’s pretty silly for a grown person to actually think enough about a thing in the vein of a 7th grade schoolgirl, to type out something that should only be written by a 6th grade schoolgirl.
“I’m not sure what that means.”
It means you can tell a lot about a person’s state of mind and their values by what that person does.
Similarly:
“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are”
–Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin.
Elon spent 44 billion dollars to acquire Twitter in an attempt to be cool, funny, and liked. It backfired spectacularly and made most people dislike him even more. He spent something like a billion dollars on getting God Emperor Trump reelected and attempting to further the MAGA agenda on down ballot races…most of this was also to try to get people to like him or force with the other option being forcing them to through fascism.
He got dunked on in Wisconsin despite the odds being in his favor and the pack of antisocial ghouls in Trump’s inner circle are already sick of the guy and forcing him out of the administration. On one hand it’s hilarious. The man has all the money in the world but he can’t buy the one thing he wants…which is to be cool, funny, and loved. He’s too much of an insufferable antisocial little weasel for Donald Goddamn Trump’s band of insufferable antisocial little weasels…and he’s going back to his boring life of being an unloved evil charisma vacuum with his tail between his legs.
On the other hand he’s literally harming tens of millions of people with his egotistical childish desire to force people to like him and that’s a real bummer. We’d all be better off if he got on with his plan to move to Mars…but then again it seems like a good bet that he’d do irreparable harm to that planet too.
Hot take, he already was seen as cool and loved when Tesla and SpaceX were somewhat newer and smaller companies and he hadn’t gotten involved in the Twitter/X stuff or electoral politics. There’s a reason why TV producers were nerding out in him to the point where he was doing cameo appearances in sitcoms. People did like him, to an unhealthy Steve Jobs degree, and he was always an asshole. He just started doing more things that his fans couldn’t ignore or explain away as easily
This is the correct take. I used to spend time on the Tesla Motors Club forum back when Tesla was a groundbreaking car company, and the Elon worship there bordered on senility.
I don’t know what the vibe on the forum is these days, and can’t be bothered to check, but I’ll bet it’s quite fractured.
Both of this takes are valid and I should’ve considered this mid rant. But we didn’t give up when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor!
Damn those Krauts. Japan told them not to, but did they listen? Nein!
Someone on Twatter said it’s the Chicoms that did Pearl Harbor.
Because, when the going gets tough…
You’re thinking of the Sinaloa cartels.
The Twitter thing? lol.
I’m not sure how, you of all the people on here, don’t see the real money angle. He didn’t just “write a check” for $40b or something. It’s been written ad nauseam that he leveraged his Tesla stock in a tax-advantaged way (which, by the way, was a good idea), in order to shelter some assets.
End of the day, he is somewhat in arrears (but not really) for arguably the most influential social platform made to date.
To each their own and all that, but I would garner his life is anything but boring, lol
Oh I’d certainly never claim his life has been boring. My point was more so that he seems profoundly unhappy and desperate to be liked and considered funny. Would you disagree with that?
“and he’s going back to his boring life of being an unloved evil charisma vacuum with his tail between his legs.”
See, this is where the internet got broken. Grown men gossiping like teenage girls about people they don’t know.
I don’t know what to agree/disagree about, since it is a subjective speculation.
Not to be a dick, but maybe lay off the amateur psych projecting diagnosis stuff.
It’s all good, but when people get in the rabbit hole of being angry about personality traits of people they have never met…it’s more telling of the person typing it.
Otherwise, happy Wednesday 🙂
You’re really too kind, as always. And while for legal purposes I’m of course not officially diagnosing a celebrity I actually am an expert! I have a bachelors in psych that was primarily focused in neuroscience and went to a household name graduate school to obtain a masters that allowed me to become a therapist.
I’m fully credentialed (I’ll spare you and everyone else the jargon because it’s annoying) and I still do some therapy…but my primary focus is currently in overseeing the implementation of mental health programming for an agency that’s well known in the area. Suffice to say, it’s very obvious to me and everyone else in my field that *Hank Hill voice* that boy ain’t right.
My rants are intentionally overdone and silly because that’s just always been part of my internet persona. It makes me lots of internet friends and earns me little dopamine hits through totally meaningful internet points, but I’ve said many times that no one should take anything I say too seriously.
That being said, Elon is profoundly unwell and he’s doing his best to take everyone else down with him. I’m actually completely certain that he’d benefit from a good therapist and that he still has redeeming qualities in there somewhere. I can’t imagine he’d be amenable to the idea, but I’d love to be wrong.
I personally think that all billionaires have disordered thinking and behavior at minimum and I’d honestly love to study them because it would be morbidly fascinating. It’s safe to assume that there would be a lot of personality and mood disorder stuff, but we can talk about that another time.
I’m sure I’ll have you convinced and sprinting to the left where you can keep your guns and magic mushrooms! Deep down I know you’re a comrade. You just have this relentless, undying respect for successful businesspeople and want to defend them. Maybe it’s because you’re part of that club, I don’t know. At the end of the day we’re just two randos posting on a weird car blog.
Lol. Fair reply. Solid, actually.
Your opinions are obviously yours, and that’s cool. I think it’s silly, but it’s cool, nonetheless.
You’ve told me your background before, and as I have said before, it’s not dissimilar. I also have a D1 degree in that mumbo jumbo.
I also disagree about all the “eat the rich” stuff. Rich people make jobs more than they take them. For reference: The Autopian
Other than that, I am far from a comrade, and I haven’t tasted a drug in 20-something years. I don’t like guns and don’t have one. (Though I should, I don’t because I have the keys to a gosh dang armory 20 feet away.) No interest in any of it, anymore.
It was fun while it lasted, though.
eta: I did fuck around with doing an “Internet persona” on here and on other sites. It gets boring super quick.
Just be you, dude. We have enough hyperventilating in the world as it is. lol
last thing: There are plenty of “successful businessmen/woman” that enjoy the fact that people keep their names out of other people’s mouths. Ask DT one day about the Orchard Lake Country Club and that whole area. No one knows their names, but those names weigh a ton. Those types are the people I defend and like. People that win, and help others after they won.
Tennessee resident here; Nissan USA’s headquarters technically isn’t in Nashville proper, it’s in an exurb city of Nashville called Franklin (which is actually located in the wealthiest county in the state)
Maybe the tornados can fix that.
Yeah, Musk has done enough in politics allright.
To me, the award for the least fun (contemporary) automaker is VW by a mile. The brand, not the conglomerate obvs. The most fun also by a mile is Kia/Hyunday. And I am allowed to bundle them because they all came from scratch along with Genesis, as opposed to VW who kept buying into fun niches.
And as much as I wanted to love the Buzz (I’ve had one panel van in Europe and 2 Westfalia’s over here) when they ask for 60,000+++ for something that will go 220 miles (some of which will be used up trying to find a filling station), seems to me that VW is all about magical thinking and basic stupidity. Dudes you made your name a household item, like Kleenex, by selling a cheap useful weird car, (also had an early Karmann Ghia as first car, had a beetle or 2, had a type 3 fastback and squareback, Jetta, a new 1990 Cabriolet and still have the 86 Cabriolet). Get the fluck back to your roots and leave all the expensive shit to your alter ego AUDI. Or maybe just die on the vine.