When the CEO was replaced in December, I thought it was unfair. He made the investments and decisions that led to Toyota having this superior vehicle and its success justifies his judgement. I felt he was victim to the economic collapse that was not of his making.

I do not know all of the details but he also pursued a program of competing in GM's backyard with compatible large scale pickups and SUVs. Hindsight suggests that was not the best strategy but at the time, it made perfect sense.

So I see him like a chess player to sacrificed some pieces to gain a strategic advantage. He certainly has my admiration every time I get in our ZVW30.

Bob Wilson

Crazy ... to hemorage 7.8 Billion (U.S.) dollars, and still be able to call it good by compairing to other companies that are hemoraging way worse.

.

Prius ... yes, but C4C as well. From what I have read, the Corolla is outselling Prius under the program. I suspect availability is limiting Prius sales to some degree.

and the I pod saved Apple... so what the big deal??

most companies rely on a flagship product for profitability. take Windows profit from microsoft and you have a software company in a niche with several dozen other companies.

wait till GM comes up with the Volt using ultra cap technology, that will no doubt allow GM to continue to finance the rest of their losing product line as well...

(oh CRAP!!... i did not just say that!!)

I talked about this before, but Toyota must come up with something smarter to recover from this crisis. The Prius by itself is not going to save Toyota, it may help, but they need something else. I heard Toyota of America is kind of nervous about the current situation. CARS program helped them but Hyundai was the one that benefited the most because of their large collection of smaller cars, their assurance program, and extended warranty (very aggressive strategy). Ford is also recovering better than predicted because of their aggressive changes in their collection. Other than the Prius, Toyota is not really producing anything that outstands the completion, they are seen their 2 main anchors, the Corolla and Camry, to dive deep in sales losses. This is not a simply matter of "wait until the economic crisis is over and we will return to grow"... There will never be a "full recovery" because the crisis is simply making people to change their standards of living and for good…

Prius is #4 on the top-10 list. Higher than Hyundai and Camry.

Top Cash for Clunkers Trade-Ins and New Cars- Yahoo! Autos Article Page

I guess you're just not updated with the recent news... for July sales, Hyundai and Ford were the only ones that reported growth, and everybody else was in the red. Hyundai actually got unprecedented growth because overall the CARS program benefited them the most... you have to look at sales growth for the month in a year-to-year comparison mate, absolute sales numbers means nothing for business!!! Of note, Camry and Corolla had unprecedented losses on sales in the last 3 months! All I can say Toyota is not in a very comfy position right now despite of Prius success... trust me.

I only posted the results of the CARS program as another datapoint that's worth pondering. The surprising factor (to me at least) is that more people bought a Prius than a Camry (or Hyundai) after ditching their SUV clunkers.

Also, Prius is the only hybrid on that top-10 list, even though the Insight is much cheaper.

I see, we're just talking about different things. The 2010 Prius success is a no-brainer, I agree, but I just wanted to make sure the reader here understands that Toyota is not doing as well as they were hoping for. The situation could be drastic if it weren't for the new Prius.

Agree. Toyota stock is holding up pretty well so far. Ford's slipping back a little bit. Hyundai, like Chrysler, is private so we have no way of really knowing.

Indyking, meet my boss. Boss, meet my friend Indyking.

Doug Coleman
Prius Product Manager
Toyota Motor Sales, USA

With one day left in the "Cash for Clunkers" program -- unless the Senate acts on a possible compromise -- Toyota's Corolla has overtaken the Ford Focus as the most popular car being bought under the incentive program. The Focus had held the top spot for several days...

Top 10 lists: Toyota Corolla upsets Ford Focus as most popular clunker replacement - Drive On: A conversation about the cars and trucks we drive - USATODAY.com

Yeah but he made a lot of questionable decisions like The huge Tundra plant that never met sales goals and the empty MS plant and continuing to make SUVs and boring cars and driving Toyotas average age up. Quality also took a hit in expense of selling more vehicles.

He was a great CEO but his time has passed and Mr. Toyoda has literally been groomed for decades for this job!:rockon:

I like what I see in that cash for clunkers program. People seem to be ditching their big SUVs for compact cars. But SUVs still have a lot of appeal, and what's needed there is better fuel and carbon efficiency at the Escape hybrid level. Car companies still have too many SUV gas guzzlers in inventory and too few hybrids.

Right now, with gas at $2.50, the Corolla ($16K) is more cost effective than the Prius ($23K).
We know that perception changes when gas is $4.

I disagree about the Tundra. It was the right move (as was the Prius) because it gave Toyota flexibility to go either direction rapidly. Strategically it was decisive, and proof that the Japanese could dominate in any segment they targeted.

The Tundra isn't a "me too" or "also ran." It changed the playing field decisively, breaching the final bastion of the domestics. There were a lot of us needing a reliable full size truck and the domestics didn't fit that need.

Don't get too hung up on that CARS program. As originally funded it could only provide incentives for 250,000 vehicles. Normally 14 to 16 million light-duty vehicles (cars and trucks) are sold in the US each year - the most recent projection for this year is about 11 million. Toyota alone sold 2.6 million vehicles in the US.

CARS helps, but it isn't even close to filling in the hole in demand.

The problems with profitability are largely that Toyota has an organization and manufacturing capability sized to sell 2.6 million cars a year. So far sales are down 30%. The fixed costs are overwhelming the margin. Prius is only about 10% of that total: again, it won't fill the hole in the budgets.

lets make predictions...

i c... GM!!?? (cant be!!) coming out with a full line of SUV hybrids plugins using a revoluntionary drivetrain. combined mileage will exceed 40 mpg in average driving, will hold up to 6 passengers and will be priced in the low 40's....

and the best part?? will be out in less than 16 months

I'm of the opinion the CARS bonus may be too high, $4,500, and a smaller number, perhaps as low as $2,500, would have worked better. But the law was not written with a scaling factor.

I see the next $2 B going away fairly quickly too. If it doesn't taper off, then any further funding needs to be moderated to give better value for the buck. Still, we're looking at 0.75 M of 14-16 M, about 5%. Best of all, it goes after the worst.

Bob Wilson

Saw another '10 Prius, black, while on a 10 minute moto ride.

Nice