Toyota reclaims global auto sales crown

Toyota Prius topples Honda Civic as bestselling car in California!

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Toyota Prius topples Honda Civic as bestselling car in California [Google+ Hangout] - latimes.com

 

Let's drill down -

Is it a good thing to be the worlds biggest? Or would you rather be the best? It seems the biggest often fall.

I don't think anyone is surprised that GM gave back its temporary title. GM got into trouble in the past for pushing quantity above profits. The two companies going for biggest are VW and Toyota.

Between the two Toyota does much better in its home market getting to 50%, which is mainly a closed market. In a way biggest in Japan is a good thing, as the government helps many years with profits. VW leads in its home market Europe, but this is a ultra competitive and shrinking market, where most companies lose money. VW is profitable here, but being best in a bad market might not be so great. Europe is the reason Ford and GM have low valuations, most see continuing red ink. Toyota is small in europe so it is not joining in these losses. In the two largest markets the US and China GM leads. In the US Toyota is gaining back market share, and I expect its market share to grow in the next couple of years. In China Toyota has disappointing results, and sales are likely to be low because of China/Japan poor relations. VW is growing in both the US and China, but is much smaller in the US than Toyota.

We should expect Toyota to hang onto the crown in 2013. Its operations in Japan should continue to be profitable, but the market will likely shrink. In the US toyota should grow both market share and profitability, with the weaker yen helping imports from japan like the prius. Europe toyota is likely to continue treading water in a bad market.

 

The only crown that matters to me is quality. I hope Toyota will continue to focus on quality and not cut corners to try to be the biggest.

 

Did Toyota set out all those years ago to be the biggest, or the best?

I always thought it was the latter. Considering my experience of my Prius, I fear Toyota are wanting to copy GM on reliability - or lack thereof.

It takes a long time to build a reputation and no time at all to lose it. Now if they can be the biggest and the best?

 

Welp, I can tell ya one thing, new Ford Fusion hybrid is no match for Camry hybrid, even with its (Camry that is) offset steering wheel.

 

The highest number of vehicles sold seemed to be the over riding goal under wantanabe, hopefully this has changed.

Toyota Back on Track as Global Sales Leader | TheDetroitBureau.com

 

That is great news about Toyota, thanks for sharing.
Government Motors has bigger issues to be concerned with: desparate struggle to improve market share and profits in the near term and to survive.
If the near term survival tanks, don't bother to start a discussion on the long term goals of Government Motors. its' game over.

DBCassidy

 

I had two GM cars, a 1989 Pontiac Grand Prix and a 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP.

Both had tons of problems and quality issues.

My wife's Corolla has had zero problems in 107k miles with easy basic maintenance that I do myself.

So there was no doubt about getting a Toyota when I needed a new car.

 

I hear you. My family were diehard GM fans (Chevy mostly). Numerous break downs, no starts, at the dealer once every other month for warranty repair / replacement work - enough of this. Family went to Toyota products, espacially when their local mechanic urged them to switch to a Toyota. Heck, even the local mechanic gets tired of fixing, refixing their Chevy.

My family (was): Chevy = unhappy.

My family (is): Toyota = happy

DBCassidy

 

GM's survival isn't in doubt right now. They're strong in new markes. Their key problem is trying to turn around Opel(/Vauxhall) so they don't have to close it down and start from near scratch in Europe.

 

Big fan of both companies.

 

Prius is a Status car in California. OK. Prius may be spun off into it's own brand. Now that's a stretch but you never know.

 

Because GM transferred their reputation for 'quality' to their European arm, resulting in a steady drop in sales. Vauxhalls in the UK have a lifetime/100,000 mile warranty, yet I wouldn't touch one. They're a nightmare for quality and breakdowns. It started in the mid 1990's and appears to get worse year on year.

Prior to then they were regarded as dull but reliable. Now they're regarded as dull and unreliable. Infact the Vauxhall dealership near me went bust the other month after being in business for 90 years. Nobody wants their cars any more. GM Europe then focused their UK range on smaller, more European type vehicles getting rid of the rebadged Holdens such as the Omega which were very popular in the UK.

To conclude. Vauxhall/Opel make unreliable car and the company makes poor management decisions. Sound familiar? (hint - think GM)

 

Being best and biggest like Toyota is probably where everyone wants to be.

As to the operations, US and Japan are important markets but not even 50% of sales for Toyota. Europe is small market growing smaller, where Toyota is gaining market share.

Important markets are not those but southeast asia, china, india and south america. Those are growth markets. Developed world is stagnating.

Good thing for Toyota and reason their shares are up 50% in last 12 months is that they deal with their problems, quickly. In 2009 they moved to address over-capacity and now they are reaping benefits of that. Where GM and Ford are hurting in Europe, Toyota is lean and making money.

 

We typically see companies trying to reach the biggest rarely stay the best. I hope Toyoda has actually changed vision from wantanabe and won't go to war with VW to remain the biggest at the expense of quality. He has said being the biggest is no longer the goal as you can see from my link.

Just about all the profits came from Japan and the US according to Toyota. I haven't drilled into the numbers for what percent of sales go there. As mentioned on the last earnings report, Toyota reported poor sales in China, this was maninly do to poor Japanese Chinese relations. In Europe its easy to buy market share right now, but its tough to make real money. I think Toyota is not hurt by Europe in valuation because it is such a small part of their business. VW has a much bigger profit margin than Toyota in Europe but has underperformed expectations there.

The biggest earnings surprise was how much stronger than expected Japanese sales were. Part of the Abe governments weak yen policy is also priced into the stock now. This gives Toyota some time to shrink Japanese manufacturing to fit the market better. They are expected to do really well in the US in 2013 and gain market share.

 

Just curious but what are the top 3 car's sold in England? I'm guessing that brands like Rolls Royce, Bently, Jaguar are expensive in the USA and are expensive there may not be top sellers but you never know.. Do they still make the Jensen Healy, MG or Triumph there? That was a total awsome car in the States. If you had a TR6 in the 70's or 80's it was the best car. I still see a few of them in the garages of collectors and on leasurly drives in California on Sundays.

 

Toyota Prius now best-selling model(s) in California

 

Can't find total figures for 2012 so am quoting total sales for 2011;

#1, Ford Fiesta
#2, Ford Focus
#3, Vauxhall Corsa
#4, VW Golf
#5, Vauxhall Astra
#6, Vauxhall Insignia
#7, VW Polo
#8, BMW 3 Series
#9, Nissan Qashqai
#10, Mini

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/gallery/2012/jan/06/biggest-selling-cars-top-10#/?picture=384072620&index=9

Some of these surprised me but I guess it reflects the national sales. Vauxhalls obviously still sell on the reputation from years ago, but good luck to you buying one.

Regarding Jensens, MG's or Triumphs? Well Jensen went pop in the 1970's, MG hung on in as the sports versions of Rover Group (who also made the Range Rover) until they went pop in the early 2000's. They were responsible for some shocking but popular cars, though the MGF MG F / MG TF - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia was a cracker and still has a following like the classic MG's of old. Triumph? Hmmm, I remember them making a car in the early 1980's which was based on the Honda Accord of the time and was a good seller and I think the updated version dropped the Triumph name and became a Rover. I think in the early 1980's a lot of the various British brands were rationalised into a limited Rover branding. That ran until the early 2000's when aged designs, shocking build quality and bad management led to their demise. They sold mainly to retired gentlemen called Reginald.

 

Thanks Buddy. Never knew Ford was such a popular car in England. Learn something new every day.

Yep figured those brands would fold or get absorbed Jensen and Triumph.