Let's not dwell on the fact that Toyota recalled more cars than it sold in 2006, the sludge buildup issue that plagues the 1MZ 3.0-liter V-6 and the 5SFE 2.2-liter I-4 engines (installed in Camrys and Siennas, among others), or the very un-Toyota-like cost overruns on the U.S. factories that will build the XXL Tundra. Let's not even go to the place where we point out the obvious fact that, an excellent and largely well-deserved reputation for reliability notwithstanding, Toyota has little to get an enthusiast's mojo working overtime. Mind you, I'm not talking about the xenophobic hostility Toyota's been up against in the season's early NASCAR races.
The worm will turn because it must. And lately I can see just how. GM may have had the Pontiac Aztek as its poster child of lameness, but the other day, I was stuck behind a loaded GX470: a top-heavy, V-8-powered, $47,000, Lexus-badged variant of the Toyota 4Runner. I don't care how many Priuses Toyota sells, how do you explain the GX470? Ugly, thirsty, ill-handling-where, pray tell, is the social consciousness here? What's the appeal? Somebody tell me. Cynical insults to the intelligence of the American people are hardly thin on the ground, but this is not just a Lexus, it's a landmark.
Toyota's chickens must come home to roost. Once Toyota becomes bigger than GM, we can expect it will have to answer-the way GM always has to-for all its crimes and misdemeanors, real and imagined. So take heart, American carmakers. Like the good book says: To everything, there is a season.