Palmateer

From the Detroit News:

"Toyota is poised to overtake ailing General Motors this year as the world's largest automaker in terms of units sold. It is a title, industry experts say, that the 69-year-old company could win through a combination of efficiency, flexibility, quality control and, most importantly, an uncanny sixth sense for what consumers want.

"The early development of the Prius put Toyota at least two years ahead of the Big Three in one of the fastest-growing car segments," said Noriyuki Matsushima, managing director at Nikko Citigroup Ltd. in Tokyo. "Toyota has succeeded in reinventing the idea of automaking and corporate efficiency in a manner that has everybody else in the industry playing catch-up."

In the midst of massive layoffs and plant closures, General Motors and Ford are struggling for survival. Meanwhile, Toyota is projected to post record profit this year after nearly doubling production and opening seven factories over the past five years."

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic.../604080343/1148

SilverKnight

not surprised

FrostyWinters

The source is Detroit News... Probably surprised the heck out of them.

steve c

Still nowhere near the top U.S. sales leader though -- a source of pride I would assume GM will hang onto for a while as they slide further and further down -- until they build more cars people really want.

Either way, given the past -- the Toyota numbers will be suspect until verified by a third party.

rai

I was reading how Toyota can build several different cars on the same assembly line. I think that'd work out well if they run into a slow selling car they don't have to keep building the hell out of it like (I think) GM may have to since GM has to pay their 'workers' even if they don't work.

I'm not saying GM can't build nice cars, but they don't have a lot of cars I'm interested in. If you take away anything they make that doesn't have a Vette engine in it than you have a lack-luster bunch of cars (IMO).

Well Toyota builds nice cars. Maybe not exciting cars, but very nice. I have a Sienna and have been impressed with it as well as the dealer service.

SilverKnight

toyota builds cars to get to points a and b. While not exciting for me 70-80% of the consumers probably dont care about 0-60 handling etc so they stick with a reliable car.

dmz

Toyota already is the world #1 in market cap. Who cares about sales # anyways. GM looses money on everycar they sell. So, GM is actually better off financially if they sell less cars. LOL!

vader1

I'd have to disagree with you somewhat with what you said. Most of Toyota's cars do better 0-60 than GM's top sellers in the truck and suv category. Corolla's are not as doggy as they used to be and camry V6 models have plenty of power. None of them handle like crap either. I think the point you want to make is that most car buyers are not enthusiasts and think sixty in 7.5 seconds is "pretty good pickup".

Companies like Toyota and Honda spend lots of money to engineer their cars, they constantly refine them and have new rediesigns out that generally better the outgoing model in interior space, features, power and fuel economy all at the same time. It is not hard to build a following when your models are consistantly improving. Somebody who will blindly defend GM answer this question: "Since 1984 how many redesigns of the Cavalier/Cobalt to versions of the Corolla or Civic? My guess is 2 redesigns for Cavalier and maybe 4 or five for the Corolla and Civic. A new plastic front bumper treatment or different tailight design is considered "freshening" not improvement.

GM is always announcing improvements in its Siverado Truck line, but will ride an outdated cavalier for 10 years before replacing it. Same for the Grand Am, Camaro, Buick models, etc. If I am not mistaken, the chasis on the recently defunct Camaro dated back to 1982. By then many of those buyers have moved to something else that caught their attention. It aint easy to win them back.

People on this board are talking about Solstices and Sky's which seem like a nice place to start from. I like em. Lets see if they continue to improve those models or try to milk them for ten years without major change, in which case they will piss away any momentum they create from a fresh design.

rai

[QUOTE=vader1,Apr 10 2006, 12:52 PM] People on this board are talking about Solstices and Sky's which seem like a nice place to start from. I like em.

vader1

I knew someone would make that point right off the bat.

I agree that the S2000 could use a new model but I think it is obvious that this market niche does not seem to be in Honda's long term plan. Sales are not great for the model right now because it aint the new thing anymore although the 06 model is still good value for the money. When you see turbo Sky's and Solstices hit the road, the Honda will have a year left in it tops and then the nail goes in the coffin. Without at least a 25hp boost, it will not continue to sell with the same body style and hp at a $5-$8k premium.

The S2000 is not the typicical example for Honda, I would argue that the Civic and Accord are. Where for GM, the Cavalier, Gand Am, Buicks, Grand Prixs and the like were typical examples, that in my opinion, rode designs WAYYYYYYY to long when the competition had passed them by for value, technology and content.