VIDEO: Toyota Dealer Training: 2007 Tundra
Still from 2007 Toyota Dealer Training clip - click above image to watch the video
Over the past couple of weeks, we've shown you the did-not-age-well 1989 Ford dealer training videos, and the completely laughable + hopeless late-Eighties Chevrolet dealer training clips. Interestingly, in the waning years of Ronald Reagan's America, the domestics weren't doing so bad. The Big Three still had over 70% of the U.S. market and sentiments like, "Mazda! Not in my parking lot" still existed in cities outside of Detroit. Fast-forward twenty years and, well, you know the story. Ford mortgaged the farm to keep the lights on while General Motors and Chrysler sought government shelter. Meanwhile, Toyota is the largest automaker in the world, bar none, though these days Volkswagen's nipping at their heels. And we'd bet that you've owned at least one "import."
Here we have a Toyota dealer training video from just two short years ago. In it, a Dan Cortez-style host tells a trailer-towing Tundra dealer/driver to "take off like a bat out of hell" and then engage the ABS (panic stop) with his hands off the wheel. And yeah, the Tundra is an impressive truck in the video. As the host says, "The domestics were asleep at the wheel." And you could make that argument in 2007. Too bad for Toyota that Ford came out with the 2008 F-150 and Dodge followed up with the 2009 Ram. Full video after the jump.
Gallery: 2008 Toyota Tundra
[Source: YouTube]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
konatown 2:35PM (8/29/2009)
So my boss has one of these Crewmax Tundras. With the TRD supercharger, 3 inch lift and a nice SS grille gaurd. Thing is imposing and hilariously fast. Love that truck.
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Leclerc 2:42PM (8/29/2009)
Wait for the fanboys bashing the Tundra in 3, 2, 1.....
RK 3:17PM (8/29/2009)
Never owned an import and hopefully never will, though driven plenty of imports.
Tyler 5:00PM (8/29/2009)
Har har har "Domestics have fallen to sleep?" They spoke too soon with the new Ram and F-150 in town, and have they not ever heard of the Super Duty?
merlot066 10:14AM (8/30/2009)
Exactly Tyler, A base Tundra with a 4.0L engine is only $3k less than a F-250 with the 5.4L Triton V8. Adding the 5.7L V8 to the Tundra adds $8k (because they force you to add 4WD) while you can upgrade the F-250 to a 6.8L Triton V10 for $600. You could get a F-250 4x4 with a 6.8L V10 and a bump up to the XLT package for the same price as a base Tundra 4x4 with the 5.7L V8. It just takes some comparing. Toyota really screwed up with the Tundra. They had all sorts of commercials that stressed 0-60 times and braking (and yes braking is important, especially on a truck) but when it comes down to it it lacks a lot of features that are necessary in the truck market today. On top of that they had all sorts of problems with the 4x4 system, CR took the Tundra off their "CR Reccomended" list, and the President of Toyota himself called the Tundra an embarrassment to the company. 0-60 doesn't sell work trucks; payload, towing, and useful features like trailer sway control, Ford Work solutions, and a flat-load floor does.
Kevin 2:45PM (8/29/2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJZVUnOduH4
Skip to right before half way.
Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and buy a domestic truck...
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texmln 3:01PM (8/29/2009)
You already did buy a domestic truck - except you didn't get the truck - some union clown walked off with the cash instead. At least when I give my money to Toyota it's voluntary and I get something in return. GM and Chrysler just reached into your pocket (and mine) and all we get is a Mike Rowe speaking on behalf of a BANKRUPT company telling us how much everybody else's products suck... if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black I don't know what is.
MKIV 3:08PM (8/29/2009)
Oh yeah, that's an impartial comparison test sponsored by Ford. Cool! Thanks for sharing...
[insert beating off smiley here]
inline6 3:09PM (8/29/2009)
tex,
You're a moron. GM and Chrysler ASKED to take our money. Our government, elected by us, said YES!
So it's our own democratically elected government that's taking the money from us...just like with every other thing they do.
And to note, the profits from your truck purchase go to a company in a country that doesn't allow foreign competition, can build as many plants as it wants in Mexico and no one cares, and built the Tundras so poorly in their first year that CR took them off the Recommended list.
So take a seat. Please.
Miguel 3:23PM (8/29/2009)
MKIV, and this is a completely impartial video sponsored by Toyota! /sarcasm
Seriously, we didn't even get to SEE the other trucks in this one. Just the Toyota being driven with some talking points thrown in. "The domestics can't do this"...except they don't show us what the domestics can do. Fail.
l.i.dave 4:42PM (8/29/2009)
You beat me to it. A test like this clearly demonstrates the sub par job Toyota did when compared to competitors in its class.
Here is another example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRfE_XAk2mE
Awful.
the4thheat 5:02PM (8/29/2009)
Miguel that's because it's not the whole training video...just part of it put up by the camera guy as part of his portfolio.
It would actually be interesting to see the other trucks.
Hamud 2:46PM (8/29/2009)
That thing is a POS, Toyota s.cks.
Hehahahahaha, I'm kidding, just didn't want to miss the countdown.
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texmln 2:49PM (8/29/2009)
As a longtime Chevy truck owner, of course I would never consider even looking at the Tundra... until Government Motors arrived. At that point I decided I would just go over and drive a Tundra to prove to myself why I would never consider a Japanese truck for my upcoming purchase. Hell, I already knew exactly which GMC I would be bringing home. I bought the DC Tundra with the 5.7 and haven't looked back. Now it's the GM trucks I won't consider looking at. I figured "I already gave at the office" to GM when they stole my tax dollars... I won't contribute twice to them by buying their products too. They only get one bite at the apple. Besides, just like in the video, my Tundra pulls our trailers like there's nothing there - quite the opposite with the Chevy we still own.
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inline6 3:10PM (8/29/2009)
They didn't "steal" anything. THEY ASKED FOR IT.
The people YOU ELECTED gave it to them.
Your smugness is asinine.
Nick 3:16PM (8/29/2009)
@texmln
"As a longtime Chevy truck owner, of course I would never consider even looking at the Tundra... until Government Motors arrived."
Don't you love Texas Repukes driving their Toyotas with the Palin2012 sticker on the back?
You so-called patriots are the pinnacle of so-called patriot hypocrites. So you bought a Japanese truck because someone told you "big government and gm teamed up to steal your money!" eh? So that's what you call when a democratically elected government provides a bridge loan to an American company to put them back onto the right track? The loan will be paid back over time, and create billions more in revenue and saved jobs here in the US.
But somehow the amateurs like you didn't get it, blame Obama and GM for every little pain with a knee jerk reaction.
RK 3:26PM (8/29/2009)
@texmln
So you're ok with Japanese government giving loans to Toyota?
carl 11:27PM (8/29/2009)
you gave at the office? do you think your little" home economy" is separate from the rest of the usa? it is no use to save general motors and chrysler with tax dollars, then send even more money to japan, which is what caused the problems for the domestics in the first place..........remember american motors? killed when the japs showed up after the oil embargo in the late 70s.......... remember our tv industry? killed. pianos? killed...........the japanese have a well-oiled strategy to kill america, and the morons living here are determined to help....first, they come in at the bottom of a market, price-wise, and copy the product, then DUMP.............see what killed low end guitar companies like harmony and kay by googling.........while you're at it, google JAPANESE LAWSUIT DUMPING and you will tire reading hundreds of pages how tvs, forklifts, pianos, outboard motors, etc., where killed.today it was gm.....next target? JOHN DEERE and CATEPILLAR.........look at the shovels and loaders at road job sites...KOMATSU.....want to know more about the TUNDRA? look up how many recalls they have had--for engines and tailgates falling off.......who contributed more to NYC on 9/11..............GM or toyota? that's easy........ toyota didn't give a dime......
WAKE UP, AMERICA!
airchompers 2:12AM (8/30/2009)
@inline6
I voted for the other guy in all the elections. Heh. But, I suppose some snot-nosed kid like yourself thinks that the consent of the majority equals unlimited reign over all.
That was my problem with George W. and it might be my bone to pick with Obama, they seem content to pander to, care about, and governen for half the country.
@Carl
Shitty american craftsmanship killed the pianos. TVs aren't really made in Japan anymore. And the important parts are all made in Taiwan.
I suppose the Japanese just look at what America is doing and then somehow "kill us." Perhance, sir, how do they kill us? Did "they" offer a better product? If so, wouldn't it stand to reason that the inferior good is passed up for the superior good?
I bet you'll talk about how the Japanese government subsidizes everything and how GM has to put up with something or another. Keep this in mind, the Japanese government has worked to get rid of Honda. Conversely, GM gets massive fleet sales from the US government.
And I ask you, if the Japanese are so protectionist, why does Japan use American investment banks? And why doesn't Japan made an indigenous airliner? Where does Japan's new fangled surgery technology and techniques come from?
tankd0g 11:57PM (8/29/2009)
They asked for it? Man you people are brainwashed. "Too big to fail", ring a bell? "WILL REPAY THE LOAN IN LESS THAN TWO YEARS", ring a bell? Suckers.