April 1st, 2026 - Toyota makes a big announcement - V8 LC coming

[katekebo]

China's Great Wall Motors hears the calls for more V8 4x4s and laughs at our 325hp LC250. It has announced the new Tank 800 PHEV with 985hp, soon to be available in Australia and elsewhere:

China’s 735kW V8-powered LandCruiser smasher: 2026 GWM Tank 800 rugged off-roader to launch this year with V8 petrol engined plug-in hybrid power, lining up as rival to Nissan Patrol and Toyota LandCruiser in Australia

GWM is preparing a V8-powered Tank 800 as its latest hardcore off-roader, which will launch this year, according to Auto Home. The brand unveiled its V8 engine at the Shanghai motor show in April 2025, and it looks like the Tank 800 will be the first car to use it.

www.carsguide.com.au

China is successfully making inroads in every market they are allowed to sell their vehicles in. Their vehicles offer a great value, are typically 10-20% cheaper than European or Japanese competition, come well equipped and offer significantly better warranties (typically 7 years). The only things that holds Chinese off some markets is protectionism (tariffs).
China is extremely competitive thanks to three factors:

• Almost unlimited supply of highly qualified workforce (free higher education) and strong work ethics.
• A very well developed supply chain. You can easily find everything (parts, materials) locally, at competitive prices and immediate availability.
• Business friendly financing and tax regime.

People who still believe that China manufacturing is price competitive due to cheap labor don't know what they are talking about. I have been to China three times on business, specifically looking for suppliers for our company's business. I have spoken with at least a couple dozen US and European companies who established operations in China and they all tell the same story. While delivery times for certain equipment like CNC machines is months in Europe or US, they are available for immediate delivery in China. When I was looking for certified structural welders for a large project I was managing in the US, I got 30 applicants during two weeks period. When we placed a similar inquiry in China, we got 300 applicants in 2 days - all of them with community college degree and several years of experience. When we looked for a manufacturer to fabricate complex parts for certain proprietary machinery (requiring 5-axis CNC machining capability), we got two quotes in the US, and both suppliers wanted financial support to buy equipment and guarantees of a certain minimum annual sales volume. When we inquired in China, we got 5 quotes, all of them more competitive and with no strings attached. The Chinese suppliers were all involved in aerospace industry and frankly were more qualified than the US suppliers.
The only way you can get attention from a US supplier is if you are the government and willing to sign a military contract and pay 20 times more than the fair price.
It's just so much easier to do business in China.

 

[RideWithYanu]

China is successfully making inroads in every market they are allowed to sell their vehicles in. Their vehicles offer a great value, are typically 10-20% cheaper than European or Japanese competition, come well equipped and offer significantly better warranties (typically 7 years). The only things that holds Chinese off some markets is protectionism (tariffs).
China is extremely competitive thanks to three factors:

• Almost unlimited supply of highly qualified workforce (free higher education) and strong work ethics.
• A very well developed supply chain. You can easily find everything (parts, materials) locally, at competitive prices and immediate availability.
• Business friendly financing and tax regime.

People who still believe that China manufacturing is price competitive due to cheap labor don't know what they are talking about. I have been to China three times on business, specifically looking for suppliers for our company's business. I have spoken with at least a couple dozen US and European companies who established operations in China and they all tell the same story. While delivery times for certain equipment like CNC machines is months in Europe or US, they are available for immediate delivery in China. When I was looking for certified structural welders for a large project I was managing in the US, I got 30 applicants during two weeks period. When we placed a similar inquiry in China, we got 300 applicants in 2 days - all of them with community college degree and several years of experience. When we looked for a manufacturer to fabricate complex parts for certain proprietary machinery (requiring 5-axis CNC machining capability), we got two quotes in the US, and both suppliers wanted financial support to buy equipment and guarantees of a certain minimum annual sales volume. When we inquired in China, we got 5 quotes, all of them more competitive and with no strings attached. The Chinese suppliers were all involved in aerospace industry and frankly were more qualified than the US suppliers.
The only way you can get attention from a US supplier is if you are the government and willing to sign a military contract and pay 20 times more than the fair price.
It's just so much easier to do business in China.

Temu trucks aren’t for me, but I’m happy they’re available for those who want them. If only they didn’t steal the intellectual property of others to do so.

It’s sad that so many American companies are willing to help kill American domestic manufacturing in order to increase profit.

 

[katekebo]

Temu trucks aren’t for me, but I’m happy they’re available for those who want them. If only they didn’t steal the intellectual property of others to do so.

It’s sad that so many American companies are willing to help kill American domestic manufacturing in order to increase profit.

The days of stealing intellectual property are over. These days, China carries out more high quality research than US. Their universities are well funded and many have partnerships with private industry to develop new technologies. In areas such as large capacity batteries or solar panels, China is well ahead of anybody else. During the past several years, China has produced many more patents than any other country.
Here is funny anecdote from personal experience of how China leverages their technologies. We were looking for suppliers of autonomously guided vehicles (AGVs) for warehouses. We visited a couple US suppliers, a Korean one and one China. When visiting the Chinese suppliers we were surprised by the size of the facility. It was a massive industrial complex, deep in China's interior (http://www.ksec.com.cn/ in Kunming), "hidden" in the mountains. There was no way such a huge factory would only build AGVs warehouse vehicles. The vehicles they offered had capabilities no western supplier could match. These things were capable of navigating extremelly complex warehouse shapes and geometries, learn by themselves and autonomously develop new routes on the spot if faced with an obstacle, something no western competitor could do.
We saw a large number of fully covered trucks entering and exiting the facility during our visit. Then one of truck's tarp wasn't well fastened and we could see that it was loaded with cruise missiles and torpedoes. This is when we realized that the company was actually a military supplier and they leveraged their knowledge of complex self-guided technologies to apply it to warehouse handling equipment. Basically, their AGVs used "Tomahawk" cruise missiles "brains" adapted for civilian use. Something like that would be unthinkable in the US. It would be like Raytheon sharing their know-how with FMC. Raytheon prefers to charge US government millions of dollars for a technology that these days is worth thousands. Not the Chinese - they see a business opportunity and make money.

 

[MSINAL]

Temu trucks aren’t for me, but I’m happy they’re available for those who want them. If only they didn’t steal the intellectual property of others to do so.

It’s sad that so many American companies are willing to help kill American domestic manufacturing in order to increase profit.

Germany auto manufacturing hand-fed them all the tech and know-how as well. Now they're wondering why no one wants to buy german cars in China. Massive auto layoffs lately in germany due to board of directors chasing short term stock gains. End of rant.

 

[RideWithYanu]

The days of stealing intellectual property are over. These days, China carries out more high quality research than US.

Sorry, this is not remotely accurate.

 

[RideWithYanu]

Germany auto manufacturing hand-fed them all the tech and know-how as well. Now they're wondering why no one wants to buy german cars in China. Massive auto layoffs lately in germany due to board of directors chasing short term stock gains. End of rant.

Exactly - moving your manufacturing to China means you are donating your IP / knowledge / tech and they will immediately begin producing their own knock off versions.

 

[katekebo]

Sorry, this is not remotely accurate.

This was 2021. Now it's even more skewed in China's favor.
Have you ever been to China or worked professionally with Chinese companies? Or is your opinion based on Foxnews?

 

[RideWithYanu]

View attachment 63804
This was 2021. Now it's even more skewed in China's favor.
Have you ever been to China or worked professionally with Chinese companies? Or is your opinion based on Foxnews?

Yes, yes, no. China having a larger number of patents submitted does not contradict any of my positions.

PS: I’ve never heard of the consulting company that produced this, and I work in this industry.

 

[katekebo]

Yes, yes, no. China having a larger number of patents submitted does not contradict any of my positions.

PS: I’ve never heard of the consulting company that produced this, and I work in this industry.

World Bank data

 

[RideWithYanu]

Shall we agree to disagree?

 

[katekebo]

Shall we agree to disagree?

Sure.
China is doing exactly the same thing that Japan did in the 1960s. Nobody wants to reinvent the wheel. Japan started by copying Western designs, until they learned how to engineer and improve them. China followed the same model and now has crossed the line of being mostly dependant on foreign technology to become a net creator of innovation. This transition occurred several years ago.
First Toyota vehicles in 1936 were copies of American cars. Does this mean that Toyota is stealing American technology these days?

 

[RideWithYanu]

Sure.
China is doing exactly the same thing that Japan did in the 1960s. Nobody wants to reinvent the wheel. Japan started by copying Western designs, until they learned how to engineer and improve them. China followed the same model and now has crossed the line of being mostly dependant on foreign technology to become a net creator of innovation. This transition occurred several years ago.
First Toyota vehicles in 1936 were copies of American cars. Does this mean that Toyota is stealing American technology these days?

Agree to disagree it is then!

 

[katekebo]

Agree to disagree it is then!

Last comment (promise).
The real problem is that there is a huge dose of racism in American position about China. Americans don't blame Sony, National Panasonic or Sanyo for killing American consumer electronics industry (Zenith, Philco, ...) because they never thought about Japan as a threat to overall American dominance. But China is bigger and more resourceful than Japan, and is threating US global dominance. So many Americans hate China because China has proven to be more successful than US in many aspects. It's always easier to blame somebody else for your misfortune than to accept your own shortcomings. Hitler blamed the Jews. A certain portion of American population blames China and immigration. Hubris is the real problem America has with China.
It doesn't mean that everything China does is great and everything America does is wrong. But one of the strengths of oriental culture (China and Japan) is introspection and self-awareness. Instead of blaming the neighbor, they look into the mirror and try self-improvement. A simple example - in the US when a kid fails a grade, 90% of parents will blame the school and the teachers, but never their offspring (that is perfect). In China or Japan, the kid will be grounded, his/her cellphone will be confiscated until the kid improves the grades. This builds discipline and work ethics, something that many Americans have lost (especially the least educated ones who believe that their inability to find high-paying jobs is somebody's else fault and not their lack of competitveness in the labor market).
But we are going off topic.
Let's talk cars.

 

[RideWithYanu]

Last comment (promise).
The real problem is that there is a huge dose of racism in American position about China. Americans don't blame Sony, National Panasonic or Sanyo for killing American consumer electronics industry (Zenith, Philco, ...) because they never thought about Japan as a threat to overall American dominance. But China is bigger and more resourceful than Japan, and is threating US global dominance. So many Americans hate China because China has proven to be more successful than US in many aspects. It's always easier to blame somebody else for your misfortune than to accept your own shortcomings. Hitler blamed the Jews. A certain portion of American population blames China and immigration. Hubris is the real problem America has with China.
It doesn't mean that everything China does is great and everything America does is wrong. But one of the strengths of oriental culture (China and Japan) is introspection and self-awareness. Instead of blaming the neighbor, they look into the mirror and try self-improvement. A simple example - in the US when a kid fails a grade, 90% of parents will blame the school and the teachers, but never their offspring (that is perfect). In China or Japan, the kid will be grounded, his/her cellphone will be confiscated until the kid improves the grades. This builds discipline and work ethics, something that many Americans have lost (especially the least educated ones who believe that their inability to find high-paying jobs is somebody's else fault and not their lack of competitveness in the labor market).
But we are going off topic.
Let's talk cars.

Ah now it’s racism. Gotcha

 

[47North]

Having just reached the milestone $100 tank fill today I would be happier to see Toyota announcing an all electric LC.

 

[Shorty]

I heard the hybrid battery has been replaced by a propane tank...............

Or should that be nitrous oxide

 

[D-mac]

. Americans don't blame Sony, National Panasonic or Sanyo for killing American consumer electronics industry (Zenith, Philco, ...) because they never thought about Japan as a threat to overall American dominance.

In the 1980s when Japanese automakers were starting to take market share from the US makers, and the historic auto factories in Detroit started to shut down, they absolutely were seen as a threat. Hollywood even made a movie about it called "Gung Ho". But then these same Japanese manufacturers started building auto factories in the USA (and also Canada and Mexico), and now most of these brands' sales in the US are from North American-produced vehicles. The Chinese manufacturers are also doing the same thing. I know BYD has a commercial/heavy duty EV vehicle factory in California so it can get contracts for 'Made in USA' and ' union-built' vehicles from government agencies. It's probably just a matter of time before these same mfgs do the same with consumer vehicles and we will see more Chinese brand vehicles like these TANK brand SUVs on the road.

 

[supernova]

chatgpt says this about chinese vehcles. They must be doing something right to achieve such high volume outside of china

Category	Chinese Car Market Share	Western & Japanese Manufacturers (Collective)
Global vehicle sales (2025)	~35–38 % of all cars made worldwide were Chinese‑built	~62–65 % (includes US, Europe, Japan)
Western Europe (new car sales)	~5.7–6.7 %	~93–94 % (European + Japanese brands dominate)
UK (new car sales)	~9.7 %	~90.3 % (European + Japanese brands dominate)
China domestic market	~70 % (domestic brands)	~30 % (foreign brands, including Japanese)

 

[RideWithYanu]

chatgpt says this about chinese vehcles. They must be doing something right to achieve such high volume outside of china

Category	Chinese Car Market Share	Western & Japanese Manufacturers (Collective)
Global vehicle sales (2025)	~35–38 % of all cars made worldwide were Chinese‑built	~62–65 % (includes US, Europe, Japan)
Western Europe (new car sales)	~5.7–6.7 %	~93–94 % (European + Japanese brands dominate)
UK (new car sales)	~9.7 %	~90.3 % (European + Japanese brands dominate)
China domestic market	~70 % (domestic brands)	~30 % (foreign brands, including Japanese)

Primarily Chinese domestic market and developing markets, I think (feel free to fact check me, that’s just what those numbers seem to indicate).

 

[LCOceans]

This is a cruel April fools joke!
But I am happy with my 250 hybrid that I did not spend over $100K on and it even gets decent fuel consumption if I am being honest.