Just returned from a fascinating two-week 'fact finding' tour of Japan. I was mainly visiting components suppliers, but also managed to visit Nissan and Toyota car plants, including a Toyota design studio.
Saw some absoutely brilliant engineering, including some stunning holographic instrument panels which are under development, and white LED headlamps from Stanley Corp. The Japanese also have some excellent car telematics, using their VICS systems. You get (free) real-time road, weather news etc on a colour screen in the car.
I travelled using both public transport and rental car. Public transport, as you would expect, was reasonably priced and superbly efficient - not to mention clean and with a freedom from UK-style anti-social behaviour.
Driving in Japan was not as bad as I had been lead to believe. Most traffic signs are also in English and congestion, even in Tokyo, was not that bad. The Tokyo 'Metropolitan Expressway' (a mostly elevated two-lane highway system) was pretty busy, but away from that the traffic moved reasonably freely, even right in the centre of town. I have seen things worse in Birmingham. Parking was not too bad either, in fact my central Tokyo hotel carpark was never more than about 25% full. Coupled with a fantastic GPS system in my rental car (which showed a 3D-view of the street and even accurately displayed buildings each side of the road!) I didn't really have any problems.
It was interesting to see Mercedes and Volvo making quite an impact on the Japanese market, and I also spotted a few Peugeot dealers! I also found myself behind a Citroen C3 on one of the motorways. Unexpected sightings included an old Xantia driving by Shinjuku station in Tokyo, and a *very* old and battered Volvo 240 estate in the Ginza shopping area! Another curious thing is that Japanese private cars are almost all coloured white, silver or black. In fact about 50% seem to be white.
Hot news whilst I was over there was GM selling shares in Subaru (Fuji) to be replaced by Toyota as a major shareholder. Subaru and Toyota are to co-operate on 4WD developments and apparently the SAAB-Subaru co-operative development is to be terminated. Also the US automakers are suffering big falls in large vehicle (i.e. SUV) sales - which is regarded as favourable to the Japanese who do well in small vehicle and hybrid technology.
I thoroughly enjoyed meeting the Japanese engineers and managers. It was refreshing to see money been thrown at producing good engineering solutions, good teamworking, and freedom from Anglo-Saxon style moaning about the workforce and pensions etc. (Japanese auto engineers and assembly workers are some of the best paid in the world, but can justify it through the efficiency of their production technology). Interestingly their senior managers don't seem to need mega-salaries, bucket-loads of share options or 'Pheonix-Four' style pension deals to work effectively either!
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Very interesting - thank you very much for telling us about it. The impression I get is that "things work" - which is of course because the people who make things work are well motivated and want them to work.
A lot of managements don't realise that if you don't get "people controls" - i.e. training, recruitmwent and motivation - right, other controls won't work, and the whole business is at a higher risk of not achieving its objectives.
Your last para in particular shows that the Japanese in general do seem to understand that, and - bringing this back to motoring - that's why their cars are for the most part more reliable and you have smaller chance of getting s dud.
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Japanese private cars are almost all coloured white
:O Why ???
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I am the only Pole over here.
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":O Why ???"
Because it is only the UK (that I know of) which detests white as a vehicle colour. Don't really understand it, but then there are lots of things I don't understand...or need to.
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All very interesting ....
Regarding "another curious thing is that Japanese private cars are almost all coloured, white, silver or black ..."
Yes, I made the same observation when I last visited Tokyo over 10 years ago. I guess it's all to do with the fact that the Japanese are a conservative race and individuals don't like to stand out from the crowd.
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Aprilia,
Did you notice all the taxis have identical aftermarket 'wing' mirrors? (yes mounted at the front of the wings.) At east they seemed to in Kyoto.
I always wonder if it is a requirement for a taxi cab, as they are often in addition to the normal door rear view mirrors fitted by the manufacturer.
Agree with comments regarding Japanese Public Transport.
StarGazer
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Yes, they all have those wing mirrors. Most of the taxis seem to be Toyota Crowns or Nissan Cedrics. Many of them must be very old, but they look to be in superb condition. I couldn't quite work it out. Also, a lot of the police patrol cars look to be some sort of 'unique' model. Old-fashioned styling but must have been quite new cars. I also spotted that the police also use the latest Skylines for some traffic duty and saw an unmarked white Imprezza pull a speeding motorist on the Togichi motorway. The police seem quite 'zealous'....
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Interesting about their production "values": wonder how they will cope with labour @60p an hour in China? On a parochial note, don't suppose you noticed how much the Honda Jazz sold for? I've often wondered how much a Jazz sells for in Japan compared with here.
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Interesting about their production "values": wonder how they will cope with labour @60p an hour in China?
Funny how British people are so obsessed with the 'threat' of China and India. The Germans and Japanese see these countries as opportunities rather than threats - but perhaps that's more a reflection of how British people now see themselves in the world today?
Long-time BR'ers may recall that I undertook a similar trip to China last year - visiting potential automotive suppliers. Let's just say that they have a very long way to go before they are a threat to the Japanese motor industry. They may be reasonably cheap for labour-intensive high-volume assembly, but design and quality assurance is very poor and innovation is almost non-exitant. Modern automotive component production and vehicle-assembly is not especially labour intensive so low labour cost countries don't have a massive advantage. Cost of capital, availability of design expertise and good infrastructure are all more important that labour costs (labour cost is a smaller element of overall production cost than most people outside of the industry realise). In fact there is a school of thought that says high labour costs in the auto industry are almost a 'good thing' in that they prompt investment in automated assembly technologies. One possible reason why German and Japanese productivity in the automotive component sector is way higher than the UK's.
Low cost producers haven't been noticably successful in the market place either (think Proton or Tata-CityRover). Korea is often thought of as a low-cost producer but in fact their wage rates now equal or exceed UK levels (plus they rely on a lot of borrowed Japanese technology).
Also, when talking about China let's not forget that it is a communist country which is adding about 100 nuclear missiles to its stockpile every year. All companies of any significance are ultimately controlled by the Chinese communist party and virtually all will be stongly influenced by the local party politicians - these are people who can sign death warrants. Corruption is rife and decisions are seldom made for business reasons alone.
Its a bit ironic that the company once threatened by the allegedly communist 'Red Robbo' is now handed to the communists with the governments blessing.
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Lots of very good points, reflects very closely my experiences in China and South East Asia. China has, in my opinion, a big structural problem in that a lot of the Universities train people to copy existing products and processes rather than to innovate and develop new ideas themselves. There are exceptions to this, but they are exceptions.
When talking about South Korea, what has struck me in recent projects in the automotive sector is that there are only two car companies who are still really respected by suppliers for their incredibly stringent quality standards. One is Toyota, the other is Hyundai. German manufacturers, by the way, are admired by the industry mostly for their innovation especially BMW.
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Given that the assembly of Jazz for Europe is now partly at least being undertaken in China, the labour cost element may well have a bearing. Even though it is only a part of the total cost, as I well know, any business will look to a reduction in total cost, given maintenance of quality.
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Given that the assembly of Jazz for Europe is now partly at least being undertaken in China, the labour cost element may well have a bearing. Even though it is only a part of the total cost, as I well know, any business will look to a reduction in total cost, given maintenance of quality.
Yes, that is of course true, but I was trying to emphasise that labour cost isn't as important as many think. The assembly labour cost element in a typical family car is only a couple of hundred pounds. For a Far Eastern made car that is roughly similar to the shipping cost to UK and any small advantage can be wiped out by changes in tariffs or exchange rates.
Some example of the Honda Jazz are wholly assembled in China. Honda (and other Japanese manufacturers) have had joint-venture factories in China for many years. Honda China ('CHAC') is based in Guangzhou and they have a small factory making LHD Jazz for export to Europe - the cars are mostly assembled from parts shipped in from Japan.
Most car companies are keen to get established in China to exploit the growing market for cars there - rather than to exploit cheap labour. China imposes high tariff on certain imports and so cars have to be assembled locally. Mind you, it has not been a good year for the automotive sector in China. Despite some growth in sales most companies are reporting much lower profits than last year.
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Interesting points: thanks Aprilia!
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On the subject of mirrors its very easy to tell Japanese imported 4x4's as they have a 3rd mirror installed, is this useful or just a trend in Japan ?
Any Pictures from the Japan trip Aprilia, i'm sure many back roomers would love to see some.
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The wing mounted "parking" mirror can be very useful as you can see the whole side of the car. With the normal door mounted ones you only see the rear 1/4 or 1/3 at best and usually have to adjust* it to see the kerb when parking.
Not sure how safe these wing mounted mirrors would prove to be in a pedestrian impact though....
* On some cars the passenger side door mirrow automatically dips to view the kerb when reverse is engaged.
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On the subject of mirrors its very easy to tell Japanese imported 4x4's as they have a 3rd mirror installed, is this useful or just a trend in Japan ?
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Also all the Toyota Esitmas I see have a big mirror on an arm angled off the rear of the roof.
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nothing to do with mirrors..
but as a non-teccie, very occasional contributor to (but avid follower of) this terrific site, may I say "Welcome Back, Aprilia" - HJ.co.uk just isn't complete when there's a pause in your invaluable postings.
I'd buy a car from you any time!
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Also all the Toyota Esitmas I see have a big mirror on an arm angled off the rear of the roof.
That's to aid parking. Seems like a really good idea to me and I'm surprised that they're not now sold in Halfords (I guess they might be soon, if Halfords get taken over by Autobacs!).
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