Toyota: More Profit Per Car

I always knew that Americans are best in making profit as they only care for profit as a capitalist economy. Well, it seems that Japanese auto makers are defeating American auto makers in their own game. We have often heard that Asian countries are good at making cheap products. Naturally, when you make cheap products you can make less profit. However, in the car industry, we can see an opposite picture now. Toyota is making more profit on an average. On the other hand, American companies like GM and Ford are not making so much profit like Toyota.

IHT reported:

Still, GM made $2,123 (€1,539) less per vehicle than Toyota in 2006, according to the report. Toyota, the most profitable of all automakers on a per-vehicle basis, increased its profit per vehicle from $1,175 (€852) in 2005 to $1,977 (€1,433) in 2006, the report said. The numbers for individual manufacturers are at times lower than the overall gap because they do not include special write-offs, Harbour-Felax said.

Ford, while it has made progress on cost cuts, common parts and globalization, still had a $3,939 (€2,855) profit gap in 2006 when compared with Toyota, Harbour-Felax said.

Chrysler's profit gap with Toyota averaged $3,088 (€2,239) per vehicle for 2006 mainly because it was "force feeding" the market by selling vehicles with heavy incentives, she said.

Really, bad news for American auto makers. Toyota is riding fast indeed.

10 Millions Cars: A Dream from Toyota Motor Corp.

Toyota Motor Corp. is the second largest auto maker in the world. Toyota bosses now have just one dream- to overtake General Motors (GM) as the number one auto maker in the global market. To fulfill this dream, Toyota is trying to increase its production world wide. Now, there is strong media speculation that from next year, Toyota is Toyota Motor Corp. is going to produce more than 10 million cars.

IHT reported:

The Nikkei article said Toyota Motor Corp. has told its suppliers it is aiming in 2008 to produce 10.4 million vehicles, or about a million more than its global production last year.

Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco and Daisuke Kondo, spokesman for Aisin Seiki Co., a major supplier, declined comment.

Toyota's sales are booming with the popularity of its fuel-efficient vehicles, such as the Prius hybrid, and on surging demand in North America and China.

Toyota beat GM in global vehicle sales for the first half of this year, selling 4.72 million vehicle to GM's 4.67 million.

So, it can be seen that Toyota officials have enough reasons to be hopeful about overtaking GM as the market leader. Of course, I would not them to be too much obsessed with this idea. Instead, they should think of the long term future.

Good News for Toyota Tundra

Toyota Tundra is a familiar name to many people when it comes pickup trucks. Toyota wants to make it popular but it did not have a very good time in 2007. However, now, it seems that Toyota Tundra is catching up on sales target. I found a press release in this regard and I am giving a part of the press release here:

The AIADA newsletter reports that after a shaky start, the redesigned Toyota Tundra is gaining traction.

Automotive News reported today that the Tundra is on track to meet its goal of 200,000 sales for the year. Sales have been aided by generous incentives, but Toyota throttled them back this month.

Tundra sales are modest compared with pickup sales at GM, Ford, and Chrysler. But doubts that Toyota could crack the segment are fading.

Toyota built a $1.28 billion plant in San Antonio to assemble the redesigned Tundra. The pickup is also assembled in Princeton, Ind.

Toyota Tundra has a long history and I hope that this car will do better in the coming months.

Are you an owner of Toyota Tundra? What is your experience with it?