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Save A. I. Lazamataz
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.
My wife was driving a Nissan Altima for 5 years after having a Jeep Cherokee. She decided after the Jeep she wanted a sedan type car. After the Nissan it was back to a SUV type vehicle. She leased a 2010 Rav4 Limited and is very happy with it. Our household will not drive anything assembled with UAW labor.
When Americans make a good product on par with products made in foreign countries or make a better product, I buy those products. That has not been the case for many consumer items manufactured in the US over the last three decades. Clothing and electronics come to mind. So does vehicles made in the US over the last 30 years. For the most part, GM, Ford, Chrysler and Saturn make crappy vehicles. I know, I've owned GM and Ford's and have friends who owned the other brand names. Some have had good luck. Too many have had bad experiences.
Most Toyota vehicles sold in America, are made in America, by Americans. That was not the case in the 70s&80s. Today, Toyota employs thousands of Americans at good wages/benefits and without the intrusion of unions and the oversight of the feds.
I have the best of both worlds... a 2000 K3500 pickup and a
2007 Corolla that gets 38 mpg. Love ‘em both!
I, too, am very brand loyal... we currently own a Honda Fit, Toyota truck, Ford Focus, and Chevy HHR.
We own 3 Hyundai Sonatas. 04, 06, 07
My only complaint is that in rural KY, I have to drive 30 miles to the dealer for factory service.
But, I was treated like crap by GM and GM dealers too many times. Ain’t going back for love nor money. I would willing to at least consider some Ford models.
GM should be pleased that I ever bought another from them after that POS 1976 LeMans. I did finally go back in 1998 and get an S10. Reasonably good vehicle. Very poor service and (IMO) fraudulent warranty service. As well as brake safety issues that GM refused to address and eventually caused a (fortunately minor) car accident. I should have sued the b@st@rds anyway. Still makes me very angry that my daughter could have been injured after I repeatedly tried to get GM to discuss the brake problem.
“Toyota makes better vehicles, period.”
We bought our first Toyota, a RAV4, on that belief and were proven wrong. The rack and pinion steering was shot before 50,000 miles. A $2,000 repair bill at the dealer. My wife babies that SUV, so it does not make sense. Back to Honda next time.
http://www.leftlanenews.com/volkswagen-commits-71b-on-mission-to-become-worlds-number-one.html
I’ll always buy a Toyota
I’ll NEVER buy GM.
Toyota really got a boost during the 60s-70s when the hippies liked to buy Japanese cars to get back at daddy who probably fought against Japan in WWII.
Mother nature doing what the Obama administration couldn’t.
Toyota is a first-rate company. When they first brought their cars to market here after WWII, they had the quality of a Hawaiian Drink Umbrella, but they learned and they did it quickly. I’m still going to buy cars that come from US manufacturers. I’ve never had a problem with any of them thus far, but the BMW we have, as nice a car as it is to drive, is a maintenance headache. Everytime something fails, we are told that “they all do it.” (The plastic radiator blew at 75k miles). And because you have to “speak German” to fix it, it’s much more expensive. I quit taking it back to the dealer after the warranty ran out. When I went there, they always had a latte waiting, but my butt began to hurt right after the first sip.
IIRC, there was a legislative proposal in California to ban black cars for exactly the reasons you cite.
Pretty much - kind of weird, though, how every time Japan gets puffed up, something bad happens ...
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