So far, the proposed opening up of car markets between countries hasn’t resulted in an influx of forbidden Japanese or European cars. Our government may be good at quickly announcing big projects, but the actual implementation historically takes a while. In Japan, at least, change appears to be moving at a faster clip as Toyota has announced a whole slew of products to be imported from the United States.
This will be one of the last Morning Dumps of the year, and many of you are enjoying time off with your family. With less of the usual news, it gives me a chance to write about an unusual mix of topics today.
While Toyota may be importing cars from the United States, that’s a sideshow compared to ongoing struggles in China.
Here’s a quote:
“If you’re Mary, you should be scared shitless of me, I agree with you because look, I don’t know Mary. I’ve been trying to get to know Mary, and this sounds horrible because it’s like I’m trying to date her. I’m not trying to date Mary, for the record, but I tried to get to see her.”
Can you guess who said it? That’s from Sergio Marchionne, the former FCA CEO who died unexpectedly a few years ago; it came from an Automotive News interview that formerly didn’t include that quote.
And, it’s the holidays, so let’s end on an up note with some background on what Ford CEO Jim Farley has been up to in his rare private hours.
Toyota To Send U.S.-Made Tundras, Camrys, And Highlanders To Japan
As part of his strange presentation at Fuji Speedway a few weeks ago, Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda drove around in a Ford F-150 while also promising to sell more U.S.-built products to his country. What those vehicles would inevitably be was a bit of an open question, given that Japan already sells a few of the same locally-built cars.
Wonder no more! The three vehicles that Toyota says it will import are the Toyota Highlander SUV, the Camry sedan, and the Tundra truck. The Highlander sort of makes sense, as it’s one step up from the RAV4 already sold there, but smaller than the Prado or Land Cruiser. Toyota used to sell the Highlander in Japan. Up until 2023, Toyota also sold the Camry in the country, although it wasn’t particularly popular.
The Tundra, though, is new. For all the talk of Japan not being a place for big American trucks, the inverse is said of small Japanese cars here in the United States, and people keep importing them for a reason. If I lived in Japan and had the money, I’d probably have a slew of small kei cars and trucks because they’re novel to me. Novelty is key, here, and I remember the first time Adrian came to visit, he rented the biggest truck he could get, which, IIRC, was a Tundra. Someone in Japan wants a Tundra.
Will they sell in large numbers? I doubt it, but as Automotive News points out, that’s not really the point:
Japan’s carmakers breathed a sigh of relief in July when Washington lowered U.S. tariffs on Japanese auto imports to 15 percent. Japan-made products had faced a 27.5 percent tariff, with Trump’s new 25 percent rate on top of the preexisting 2.5 percent duty.
Japan’s government and the nation’s automakers are hopeful about eventually negotiating a lower tariff rate. Bringing in U.S. product to balance trade is part of that charm offensive.
I am happy for our Japanese brothers and sisters, who get to enjoy some American-built trucks. In an ideal world, everyone would be able to buy cars from everywhere. I’m pretty sure that’s what John Lennon’s “Imagine” was all about. In that spirit, though, maybe send the Suzuki Jimny our way? That would really charm us.
Toyota Production Falls On Meh Chinese Sales
If there’s one car company that’s made it through the ups and downs of 2025 without huge disruptions, it’s Toyota. While I’m sure the automaker would not have chosen to fork out the billions in tariff-related charges it had to cough up, Toyota has enough production in enough markets to react to local issues.
That isn’t to say things are perfect, especially in China, where subsidies expired as Bloomberg reports:
Toyota and Lexus brand sales in China fell 12% in November, the company said, citing the end of trade-in subsidies in major cities as funds ran dry. The figures were released against a backdrop of diplomatic tensions that have been brewing between China and Japan since November, when Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made remarks about Taiwan that angered Asia’s biggest economy. China responded by warning its citizens against traveling to Japan.
You can’t win them all.
What Sergio Marchionne Really Said
Former Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) CEO Sergio Marchionne is one of those rare executives who could both talk a big game and deliver on it. When he spoke, he seemed to have an endless stream of data and blunt witticisms to pull from out of thin air. I always thought his aversion to notes was because no one who smoked that much could possibly have felt comfortable around paper.
He died tragically and unexpectedly, and the company has really never been the same since. Near the end of his life, he was searching for a partner to merge with, accepting that FCA couldn’t make it alone (eventually, FCA would combine with PSA to form Stellantis). His first target was General Motors.
In an essay, the great Larry P. Vellequette from Automotive News remembers a two-hour interview on the subject with Marchionne, and includes this bit that didn’t make it into the reporting:
He spoke in personal terms about the logic of combining GM and FCA. He salted his language with cursing and innuendo and obtuse phrases, and it all made perfect, logical sense as we listened intently and tried to keep up.
“The benefit is the company [FCA], it’s not Sergio,” Marchionne said, referring to himself in the third person. “Sergio has got a lot of value and a lot of faults.”
“But if you’re Mary [Barra] or [former GM CFO Dan] Ammann or somebody …” one of us interjected.
“If you’re Mary, you should be scared shitless of me, I agree with you because look, I don’t know Mary. I’ve been trying to get to know Mary, and this sounds horrible because it’s like I’m trying to date her. I’m not trying to date Mary, for the record, but I tried to get to see her.”
I think Barra knew what was up when she avoided Sergio, as GM is now way more valuable, and Stellantis has survived in the “mediocrity” that he warned of in the original interview. I miss him, though.
The Work Ford CEO Jim Farley Does When He’s Not Working
There’s a lovely duo of stories over at the Detroit Free Press about Ford CEO Jim Farley’s involvement with the Pope Francis Center in Detroit, which works to address homelessness in Michigan.
The campus opened in September 2024. It is a center that provides housing and comprehensive services to men experiencing chronic homelessness. The goal is to get those men to permanent housing.
Part of that process requires helping many of the men move past addiction. That’s where the Chris Farley room comes in.
The room is named after Farley’s cousin, the late comedian Chris Farley, who died from a drug overdose in 1997 at age 33. It is the room where residents attend nightly alcoholic anonymous and narcotics anonymous meetings as well as classes that teach job skills, conflict resolution, emotional intelligence and financial acumen.
“Chris would be so happy,” Farley said of that room. “The way he dealt with pain was laughter so if he was here, he wouldn’t be serious. When he had problems, that was how he dealt with it and I think that’s part of the reason why it didn’t work. You need real hard tools” to overcome addiction.
According to the articles, Farley is often there in his free time, with no cameras or entourage. The reason behind his publicizing it now is to raise more awareness and funds, especially in the face of cuts likely to come from the current administration.
The second article is about a gift given to Farley from one of the residents, Alan Webster:
Webster grew up in Michigan attending Riverside High School in Dearborn Heights. It was in the third grade, he said, when he learned he had a gift for art.
But he never got much direction from adults as to what to do with his talent. Webster tells Farley his parents divorced when he was 12 and he said, “I never really had a father figure in my life. He was a bad alcoholic.”
I see, I see,” Farley said. “Addiction is a big part of all of our lives.”
It’s at this point that McCabe tells Farley that the Pope Francis Center had a gift for him, explaining that the center purchased one of Websters works of arts: a model of a Ford Model T pickup truck.
You should go read the article and see the handmade model, which is amazing. In my church, we say “God’s work, our hands,” and it’s always encouraging to see people living that mission.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
This is an all-day stream of Vince Guaraldi Trio’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” It’s still the season.
The Big Question
What’s the best gift you gave or received this year?
Top photo: Bad Dudes/Toyota/DepositPhotos.com
What’s the best gift you gave or received this year?
I asked my family to donate to a charity that supports music education for youth, from instruments and lessons to scholarships. That’s exactly what they did.
Fantastic, well done.
Great and much needed idea. Without music and art, culture withers and becomes rigid and stale.
Perhaps Japan is the perfect location for our mid size, formally king sized pickups that sell here but not great but could make them economicly viable if sold as full sized in Japan? Now correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t all 3 American cars to be sold in Japan not Japanese cars?
I’m out in Hokkaido as we speak, I’ve seen a handful of Sequoias, land cruisers, and other larger cars not usually associated with Japan.
The largest car i saw in Sapporo was a Jeep Grand Cherokee, gladiator, and land cruiser.
Rural-ish Japan is a lot more spread out with plenty of parking, and low population density.
When Toyota talks about importing these cars, don’t thinking they are talking about Tokyo, which we immediately think when we hear Japan.
Agreed –
In Japan, you must prove you have a parking space large enough to fit the vehicle you are purchasing in order to register it with your prefecture – the space must be within 2km of your home, verifiable by the police.
Only Kei cars are immune from this requirement.
“It’s still the season.” Oh, it’s still technically Christmas; the feast of the Nativity runs for eight days (the “octave” of Christmas). Add in two Sundays, the Solemnity of Mary (Jan. 1) and Epiphany (Jan. 6) = 12 Days of Christmas. They start on Christmas Day, not end.
But the Christmas season actually goes even longer, until the Feast of the Presentation (Feb. 2). This is more of a European thing today, as a lot of American churches take down the decorations early. But if you visit Europe, especially northern, you’ll see Christmas trees still up in a lot of churches through January.
I thought it was because of laziness. Are you saying there’s a reason for trees to stay up that long?
When I wasn’t adding Christmas-mods to my ’66 Biscayne, I found time to locate a particluar Ertl 1/16th scale John Deere 4×4 tractor for The Old Man. Turns out it (the IRL version) was the first one he worked with when he accepted a new position within the company, but was always a little too cheap to actually spend the $$$s to add the scale one to his collection, plus they haven’t been made in awhile.
Best-gift-received was a 2-stage electric vacuum pump that my daughter picked up from Harbor Freight for me. She must’ve been paying close attention last summer when I said I needed one of those before fixing the AC on her Spark.
“I said I needed one of those before fixing the AC on her Spark.”
I borrowed a vacuum pump from Autozone when I did my A/C. That worked out great. Do you not have Auto zones or stores with similar tool loan programs where you are?
Oh yeah – we have those around and I have rented tools before, but I’m first and foremost a tool junkie. I also have a tendency to drag projects out longer than they should take and it’s nice to have whatever I think I’m going to need sitting somewhere in the garage. Adding to that, she usually drives her Corvette in the summer (which has had its AC components removed), so the no AC thing wasn’t too big of a deal in the first place.
Are you in Australia because it is 10 degrees here in the US and that ain’t AC weather. Also non working AC usually means non working heater. I can handle no heat down past 0 degrees but no defrost means no driving
Oh, I’m right smack in the middle of the 10 degree nonsense here in the good ‘ol USA. That vacuum pump is going to sit tightly in the AC-section of the fluids cabinet, right next to the manifold gauges, until April at the earliest.
I get being a tool junkie, God knows I’ve collected plenty myself. It’s also nice though to just borrow the tool when it’s needed and not be tripping over it when its not. Then you have more room for other stuff to trip over.
Quite true, especially with some of the very OEM-specific stuff (thinking of some really specific power-steering pulley removal items clogging up a drawer right now). OTOH, that’s part of the fun of having a few rental properties. More sheds, garages, and basements to fill up with even more tools.
I don’t think I’d like to rent a place full of my landlord’s hands-off stuff.
Re tundra. A buddy of mine often tells a story when drinking heavily about running into a guy at a Tokyo bar around 2005 missing a finger one night and allegedly doing psychedelics while riding around in what he swears was a H1 Hummer through the Ginza adjacent. I always assumed the guy was yakuza and driving a Toyota Megacruiser. So maybe the tundra will find a ready audience.
There are privately imported Ford and Ram crew cab trucks in Japan, but it’s probably an even smaller niche market than the Dutch or German market for full sized pickups. My favorite oddball American pickups are still the Finnish 3rd gen Camaros where some bright spark figured out that removing the hatch and making a bed put it in a cheaper tax class
Stellantis should pull out the tooling for the old Dodge B-Series vans and start building them to ship over there. They’d sell dozens! It would be more profitable than all of Alfa.
Dajiban FTW, if there’s GM Astro van tooling out there they would also sell. They are popular as a more sensibly sized American van.
Are You A Bad Enough Dude To Drive A Toyota Tundra In Japan?
My answer:
https://youtu.be/u15HmEMp2Qc?si=otCGBUIg3HBlAyiw
Actually I didn’t get the reference of how you need to be a bad ass person to drive a Toyota in Japan.
Me either, I was just using the reference to Bad Dudes as an excuse to share a link about another game.
Forgot to insert obligatory Matt Foley SNL clip…
Chris was one of a kind, still miss that guy.
Chris best work wasn’t SNL. Although SNL best work was Chris. Last 35 years has been like my Steelers just mediocre and living on a reputation
Wait did the president get kidnapped by ninjas? Again?
Can they keep him?
He’s busy negotiating a trade deal with the Yakuza.
One of the 8 wars he stopped this year was between rival ninja clans.
Fun fact: “Bad Dudes” was the US shortened name of “Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja”. The European port of the NES game was differently shortened to “Dragon Ninja.”
The Hepburn romanization of the name is probably, “Baddo Deyūdo VS Doragon Ninja”
It was apparently the #5 grossing arcade game the year it came out. In the arcade version, Atomic Runner Chelnov is being transported in a block of ice on the train level.
Data East went defunct and sold off its IP to a (pre-iPhone) mobile game studio in 2003.
I can’t make that leap
By ‘Mary’ did Serio mean Mary Barra? I assume so, but WTF?
Edit: of course it was. I often post a comment when it occurs to me, rather than reading through the whole article first, so as not to forget what I was going to say. So lazy I am (in Yoda voice).
Also, I didn’t know that Jim Farley was related to Chris Farley. Once again, I learn something every day at The Autopian.
Same! I have a “today I learned” moment every day on the site
You think Sergio had a hard time getting a meeting? Tommy had to work his ass off to get a meeting with his cousin at Ford just to sell some brakes.
I don’t think Callahan Auto Parts ever sold to Ford that is why they had to sell to Zelinsky Auto Parts an after market auto parts chain
I immediately assumed Mary was Barra and he was attempting a huge merger. And knew the Farley thing from Autopian where it is a common mentioned item
There’s a story about the Chris and Jim Farley connection that’s worth a read.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/entertainment/2025/02/11/my-cousin-chris-ford-ceo-jim-farley-opens-up-about-chris-farley/78049392007/?gca-cat=p&gnt-cfr=1
Non paywall link:
http://archive.today/SnvqB
The best present this year was from the old couple (in their 80’s) across the street. It was a card with a hand written note saying how much they appreciate all the food we share with them. Whenever we cook, we make extra and take containers over for them. In the summer, we share extra veggies from the garden. That little note made it all worth it
Maybe once the Tundra starts dying on the roads of Japan, they will finally find the motivation to actually fix their engine.
Boom!
What, #1 isn’t summed up with the iconic catchphrase I’M BAD!
What?
The tagline from the arcade game he’s referencing. Yes, it was in fact called Bad Dudes.
It isn’t Christmas with a mentally ill teenager without the possibility of assault charges after having to restrain him from hurting his mother after he tried to walk away from a lovely family board game after a delicious dinner.
All those out there dealing with mental illness that not bad enough for commitment or incarceration, but too awful to make it through a normal day….I see you. That’s the majority of behavioral issues.
I also see the massive bruise on my thigh from when he threw an elbow while I tried to safely pin him. That’s my most memorable gift.
This isn’t what anyone has in mind when they first have children.
Amen, brother. I’ll match your bruise with the bite mark on my arm that never quite healed fully. Keep your head up and persevere, they’re worth it.
I feel you, brother. One of my sons struggled with mental illness and addiction for many years, and I have many memories of terrible holidays and other days as well, including the time we almost lost him to a drug overdose. We did all the things: counseling, medications, psychologists, ad infinitum. We made the difficult decision to commit him to a facility for a few months when he was 15 because his actions were harming the family, including his 3 siblings. I still have nightmares about the moment I walked away from my son, as he begged me not to leave him there. I wish I could say that made the difference, but I do think it planted some seeds. Nevertheless, when he was 18, I made the decision to kick him out of the house because he was just too much to deal with. But through it all, I did my best to stay in a relationship with him, while making it clear that I loved him but that I would not put up with his destructive behaviors. After several more years of drug and alcohol addiction, he started the long slow process of turning his life around. Today he’s 34, clean and sober, and has a wife and a daughter and a successful career as an HVAC technician, and we have a great relationship.
Keep loving your son and doing the best you can for him. As parents, it’s all we can do; and we just hope for the best.
I had to walk away from him a couple times for emergency overnight stays, but those were short term. Later we got him into an all-day inpatient program for a month, but results were short-lived.
The hard part is the diagnoses change almost daily — he’s 15, and in the past 5-7 years it’s been ADHD, ODD, anxiety and depression…then last month, Autism Level 1, and even more recently, personality tests show Borderline, Narcissism, and even Antisocial. This is a combo that’s almost impossible to treat in a single program.
He’s a fundamentally good kid and a great student, but his behavior gets him suspended constantly (even with an IEP’s “protection”) and all of that decimates his academic progress, or even combinations of programs. We’re looking into residential/inpatience stuff now.
My one hope now is that at least he’s fit to be president… 😉
Sadly, my family has first hand experience with what you’re talking about. Merry Christmas and heal quickly.
I grew up with several sociopaths and narcs in my family, so that consideration was a major reason I never wanted kids. I used to wonder why nobody else seemed to consider that until an ex who had been SAd by multiple shitbags when she was a child told me my family was exceptionally dysfunctional and realized just how unusual it was, which explained why my outlook is less common. Ultimately, those experiences gave more than they cost, but it’s got to be a hell of a lot harder dealing with mental illnesses when it’s your kid vs being a kid knowing I’d eventually be able to pull myself away (one way or another). Teenagers are especially tough because non-drug dealing good therapists are rare enough, never mind ones who work with teens. Best of luck.
If your therapist is prescribing drugs, you need to report them. Only a psychiatrist can do that. In fact, that’s primarily what they do these days. If you want someone to talk to, you go to a psychologist/therapist. If you want medication, you go to a psychiatrist. Unfortunately, you’re spot on about good ones being hard to find. Any of them.
You’re right. I was using therapist generically and should have clarified. For my PTSD, I chose my last psych/therapist because she had worked with combat veterans*, used EMDR, and said she would prescribe only in extreme circumstances, like people who are schizo, I imagine (I knew a guy who had that. Really great guy who could have done just about anything, but totally f’d by that damn disorder. He was miles better on his meds, except they had shitty side effects that would have him stop taking them in a repeating cycle). Previous dingleberry psychs with Freud beards doodled dicks and popsicle trees in front of Colonial houses on their clipboards while absently asking, “and how did that make you feel?” Then nodding without really listening, “Hm. You know, I have this new drug
that a pharma sales rep is sending me on a Hawaiian vacation if I prescribe enough ofthat has had some success with people with your condition…” I count myself damn lucky to have found a good one at only my 6th attempt, though some of her methods were probably a bit too unconventional for some.*I want to make sure that I clarify that I’m not a combat vet, it’s that my particular symptoms were very similar and it was through familiarity with PTSD in combat vets that I finally came to recognize that what an ex had diagnosed in me years earlier was right (and she wasn’t even smug about it when I told her). IME, even people in the mental health field are far too easily scared to get anywhere with them, which is even worse because the type that aren’t wusses are the kinds we need most and they appear to be the rarest of the already rare competent professionals.
That sucks, man. I have a brother with some mental health problems, so I understand a bit of the frustration and sadness. Hang in there.
Oof. Best of luck.
It’s a game of token optics with the Orange Stain. If he thinks he got what he wanted, he’s happy. Foreign leaders know how to play him, he’s got the mental acuity of a spoiled toddler.
Channeling my inner Trump, I’m sure he’s wondering how we bombed Japan AND dictated their rebuilding, and they didn’t even have the decency to make roads big enough for our cars!
/zee humor is very dark today sorry
They absolutely know how to play him, and then laugh behind his back, as does most of his staff.
Gave and received. Nerf launchers! “Battles” with my now old enough boys. Absolute best Christmas memory yesterday running through the house and taking cover while attempting to get one another.
I got a few boxes of “Hoo-Mee Chow Mein” mix, which is made by the Oriental Chow Mein Co. not far off from where I grew up.
It’s a crispy, fried wheat noodle. It’s so good that the “chow mein” sandwich became a thing. When I say, “a thing”, even Emeril Lagasse made them once (and served them to audience) on TV.
Every other chow mein noodle sucks, and I’ve tried them all. All the good Chinese restaurants locally served it. I’ve given boxes to children of restaurant owners over the years to ultimately have their restaurant switch their noodle. Years ago the company functionally sold itself to Famous Foods, but if I had known, I would’ve bought everything and tried to make it national.
South Coast MA represent! Hoo-Mee is the best.
Japanese buyers already have the right to buy a Tundra; they’re not illegal. It will require some legalization, sure, but if you are willing to pay the additional cost there are plenty of importers. It’s not like here where everything is verboten.
I expect they will sell a couple to some big car fans, and another couple handfuls to utility companies, and then quietly lay it to rest once Trump has been shown a few photos of Texas-made Tundras with Japanese license plates.
Your last sentence sums it up.
#1 I’m sure Toyota will sell plenty of Tundras in Japan. Maybe even 5 or 6!
#4 Farley’s charity work is commendable, but it’s hard not to notice that his company supports the current administration which has implemented several executive orders that are about to make the unhoused situation in America a whole hell of a lot worse.
But hey, Broncos and Expeditions!
No cameras or crew with him, yet we still heard about it.
It strikes me a bit like paying a guy to beat the hell out of someone and giving the victim an icepack after. I’d respect him more for embracing being the villain as I’m sick of the thin-skinned, whiny, perpetual-victim and lying-to-themselves kinds we get now. An honest asshole beats a smiling backstabber with me—you know what you’re dealing with and the asshole can choose to act otherwise whereas the other types are far too weak to face themselves and even recognize what they are.
There’s room for 5 or 6 monstrosities?
Man SOMEONE should have the Jimny as a captive import.. GM has history with Suzuki maybe they can do it? Call it a Tracker?
My wife and I carry on a tradition from my Grandmother of sending sweets to the family, just do to the immediates and nieces/nephews. Every year like clockwork, wherever I was, I’d get a care package filled with cookies and rice krispie treats and candy and peanut brittle, wrapped in wax paper then in foil, packed in a box with newspaper. We try to make/buy most of the same treats, though packaged a little more organized, rest of the family loves it and saves us having to figure out what kind of socks they all like.
Vince Guaraldi for the Christmas win. Well-selected, Matt!
THE music of the season, for me. Also probably my first seed of liking jazz.
I highly recommend checking out the non-Christmas catalog he has. Cast Your Fate to the Wind is one of my all-time jazz favorites. The man definitely had a signature sound so if you like the Charlie Brown Christmas stuff you’ll likely enjoy much of the rest.
I did actually spend a whole day once listening to Guaraldi. Like I did with a bunch of others. But it’s been a while, I’ll look up Cast Your Fate to the Wind now, thanks for the suggestion.