This guy for President? (Is he even a real human?)
Posted on 05/09/2011 10:24:40 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota Motor Corp., which is likely to lose its spot as the world's No. 1 automaker to General Motors Co. later this year, reports its fiscal fourth quarter results Wednesday.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Toyota's production capacity was sorely hurt by a devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan on March 11. The twin disasters nearly washed away Japan's northeastern coast, home to a network of key auto-parts suppliers.
The maker of the Camry sedan and Prius hybrid overtook GM as the world's biggest automaker in 2008, a distinction that the American car manufacturer had held since 1932. But in late 2009, Toyota's reputation was battered by massive recalls.
In 2010, GM came within 30,000 vehicles of Toyota's sales: 8.42 million cars and trucks for Toyota, compared to 8.39 million for GM. Toyota President Akio Toyoda responded on March 9 by announcing a global strategy aimed at achieving an industry first — annual sales of 10 million vehicles by 2015. Two days later, Japan was struck by the worst earthquake in its history.
Since then, car sales have plunged in Japan, Toyota's home market, as nervous consumers hold back on spending. Japan sales had already been declining after the end of incentives in September for purchasing green vehicles.
WHY IT MATTERS: Toyota, the symbol of Japan Inc., underlines the nation's struggle to recover. Power supplies were disrupted after the quake crippled the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. Now the government wants to shut down the Hamaoka nuclear plant in central Japan, the major power provider for some of Toyota's plants.
Toyota said last month that its worldwide production will start recovering in July and may return to full production by November or December, but that was before the Hamaoka decision. Already, the crisis has cost the company production of 400,000 vehicles in Japan, and another 100,000 overseas.
Like other Japanese exporters, Toyota's results are likely to be hurt by the surging yen, which erodes the value of overseas earnings. The dollar has now fallen to about 80 yen from about 90 yen a year earlier.
Toyota has not revised its forecast after the earthquake, but did an earlier upward revision to a 490 billion yen ($6.1 billion) profit for the fiscal year through March 2011, more than double what it earned the previous year, when results were seriously hit by recalls.
WHAT'S EXPECTED: Analysts surveyed by FactSet, on average, forecast a quarterly profit of about 82 billion yen ($1 billion) on sales of 4.8 trillion yen ($60 billion).
LAST YEAR'S QUARTER: Toyota's profit for the January-March quarter in 2010 totaled 112 billion yen ($1.2 billion) compared with a 766 billion yen loss the year before. Quarterly sales jumped to 5.28 trillion yen ($57 billion) from 3.54 trillion the previous year.
Oh great. You know who will swoop in and claim credit for restoring GM to number 1.
Yeah - I was kind of thinking the same thing.
Totota makes better vehicles, period.
GM-Government Motors has made crap for the last 30 years and my guess is, they will continue to produce crap.
Not sure whether this is a case of “pride goeth before a fall” or getting beaten at your own game.
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Riiiight. And I’m sure the nation of Japan suffering a horrendous earthquake, tsunami, nuclear reactors going in meltdown, tens of thousands of people dead, etc, etc....
had nothing to do with Toyota’s problems.
Moron.
The reason that Toyota has had the numbers is directly reltated to how Japan arbitrarily makes the market for new cars there. Unlike the US, Japan raises vehicle license fees every year, until they are high enough to force the Japanese consumer to buy a new car. Further, if you go to Japan, you will find that the vast majority of the cars there owned by the average Japanese are white. The government “has suggested” that everyone buy a white car because it “simplifies” production. I just can’t wait for FUBO to find out about this little kink. He will probably say that they are more energy efficient because they reflect sunlight and reduce the AC load ( that ins on cars that he allows to have AC).
Still wouldn’t own anything else unless I had to.
Proud owner of a 2001 Rav4L w/ 107K miles on it.
This may have something to do with the Quake.
Toyota also makes boring vehicles. They need to bring back the Supra; a 400hp twin-turbo 6. Zoom-zoom.
WOO WHOOO * Moleman giving middle finger to Toyota...
I just traded in my 7th Cavalier with 251K and was running great with very little oil burn. I have a Colbalt. I loves my Chebbies
We own two GM cars ( both are more that 10 years old) and one BMW. The GM cars have been rock solid reliable ( one is a truck and we tow a trailer with it). It has 125,000 miles on it and has not had one lick of service other than routine oil changes. The BMW had its radiator, which is plastic, blow up at 75,000 miles. It cost $900 to make repairs, and we were told by the independent mechanic that this is “good life” for a radiator in any and all of the German cars.
As far as Toyotas go, I think they are tinny. And they have had more than their share of manufacturing defects if you read the news.
I’m not happy about the bailout of GM, and I am really not happy that they continue to employ the UAW, but the cars are not junk, and at least they are made in the US ( more or less, since the trucks are assembled in Mexico).
I don’t know how you think that supporting the Japanese car makers is all that helpful to this country. Or buying all that shit at Costco that’s made in China for that matter. We are letting the Chinese sell us the rope with which we will hang ourselves.
Yep. The Supra lost out in the SUV wars, along with the fantastic Mazda RX-7 (one of the best out there). Nissan brought back the Z with the 350Z, so now it’s Toyota’s turn.
Nothing in this article implies that GM’s sales have improved since 2008. Same ol’ Obama path to victory, cripple the competitor. In this case, he is the recipient of a true “windfall”, a tsunami.
FYI, my two vehicles are a ‘94 Chevy Caprice wagon with 350 and a ‘96 Ford Aerostar 4WD ... two vehicles that BO would like to get off the road for good. My only experience in recent years with Toyota was a rental COrolla that greatly exceeded my expectations. My next vehicle will likely be a full-sized Ford.
Yep. And of course, the only reason GM sells as many cars as they do now is that all government purchases have to preference GM over other makers :/
“Toyota President Akio Toyoda responded on March 9 by announcing a global strategy aimed at achieving an industry first — annual sales of 10 million vehicles by 2015. Two days later, Japan was struck by the worst earthquake in its history.”
Absolutely - that’s why I noted it may be a case of “pride goeth before a fall.” Similar to the early 90s although it was a Japanese financial tsunami/earthquake at that time.
Older GM vehicles are actually pretty decently made. Like all older cars, back when companies/workers actually had pride in what they made.
Newer ones, however, are not so great. My parents bought a ‘07 Suburban, or ‘08, I forget how long we’ve had it.. But 2,000 miles before warranty expired, the battery completely died. We also had some other issue with it a few miles after that warranty expired. And then a few months ago, the brakes randomly failed while my mom was driving down 75. Apparently there’s some crossbar that actually converts your pressing of the brake to the computer sensor, and the bolt/screw on that simply gave out. No reason it should’ve done that.
And that’s what GM may be beating Toyota/Japan at their own game.
You can sell a lot of cars, if you make them so poorly that people have to buy a lot of cars. Me and my wallet will stick with a 300,000-mile-capable Toyota, thankyouverymuch.
This guy for President? (Is he even a real human?)
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