gm=owned

[nhlfan]

M Toyota may increase prices in US, to give GM and Ford time to catch their breath - WSJ (72.82 )

The WSJ discusses General Motor and Ford, saying that both are experiencing serious financial hardship. But, in a sign of a changed political climate, nobody in Washington is talking about bailing them out. Indeed, the loudest voice speaking out for helping the top 2 auto makers recently has come from, of all places, Japan. Toyota Motor Chairman Hiroshi Okuda told reporters that Japan's auto industry needs to give Detroit "time and room to catch a breath." He even suggested Toyota might raise prices on cars sold in the US to ease pressures on GM and Ford. But there's no sign that the White House or Congress is seriously contemplating any govt-led resuscitation of its own. Though Japan's 3 leading car makers are thriving and claiming a bigger share of the US auto mkt, industry analysts say neither GM nor Ford, despite their financial woes, is as troubled as Chrysler was when it received a bailout in the form of federal loan guarantees in 1979. When President Bush was asked on CNBC about GM's troubles last week, he said: "I think they're going to have to learn how to compete."

[nhlfan]

followed shortly after by this

Toyota won't help U.S. rivals

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it will not raise its car prices to help U.S. rivals, breaking with its chairman's comments a day earlier that voluntary price increases and other steps were in order to help restore health to the U.S. auto industry.

"Our basic stance is that prices are something for the market to determine," a spokesman at Japan's top auto manufacturer said. "We are not thinking about changing (vehicle) prices in order to help the U.S. auto industry."

Japanese brands collectively grabbed a record 30 percent share of the U.S. auto market last year, and some executives have become more sensitive about how their companies' success would play out at the political level.

At the annual motor show in Detroit earlier this year, Toyota President Fujio Cho and Honda Motor Co. Chief Executive Takeo Fukui said Japanese brands' expansion in the United States should not go unchecked, with Fukui volunteering that the combined share should be kept under 40 percent.

"I'm worried not only about GM but about the entire U.S. auto industry," Toyota Chairman Hiroshi Okuda told a news conference Monday as the head of Japan's biggest business lobby, the Japan Business Federation.

"Automobiles are the symbol of American industry, and if things go wrong there may be some kind of impact.

"As an automaker, we have to think about what countermeasures we can take," Okuda said, adding that technical alliances and voluntary price rises are possibilities.

A top Honda executive, however, mirrored Toyota's official stance that raising car prices to help the competition in North America was out of the question.

"I realize that GM, as well as Ford, are suffering financially," Executive Vice President Koichi Amemiya told a news conference at which Honda reported a fourth straight year of record earnings.

"But that doesn't mean you ignore the customer and raise your prices," he said.

Hit by falling U.S. sales and growing costs for employee health care, General Motors Corp. (Research) last week recorded a first-quarter loss of $1.1 billion, its worst result since the world's biggest auto manufacturer nearly went bust in 1992.

Its automotive operations lost almost $2 billion, most of that in North America as it offered thousands of dollars in sales incentives per vehicle to lure customers back. Even then, GM surrendered more sales to Asian brands, especially in the light trucks segment, its main cash cow.

Its rival Ford Motor Co. (Research) had a 38 percent drop in quarterly earnings and cut its North American production to reduce bloated inventories of unsold vehicles.

In contrast, Toyota and Honda, the world's most valuable auto manufacturers, are expected to report their best-ever earnings for the year that ended last month.

Japan's second-ranked Nissan Motor Co. reported its best operating profit for the fourth year in a row Monday.

GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner has repeatedly complained that the yen is too weak against the dollar, giving Japanese auto makers an unfair edge.

Toyota and Honda have argued that they are building more than half of their cars sold in the United States locally, creating jobs for Americans.

Toyota said it was constantly studying what the appropriate price of its cars should be based on the competitive environment, costs and profits, but that it had no decision now on any changes to its prices in North America.

[Seanith]

GM really has to find a way of dealing with its legacy costs. Those pensioners are burning that company to the ground.

[Redlyne_mr2]

Originally posted by Seanith

GM really has to find a way of dealing with its legacy costs. Those pensioners are burning that company to the ground.

Hehe yeah especially when Lutz calls Pontiac and Buick "Damaged brands". Smart way to support your company and keep those shareholders happy.

[max_boost]

Doesn't affect me, I don't like their cars anyway

[Godfuader]

A Very interesting article in last weeks "Newsweek". Essentially Toyota is taking over the automotive world faster than anyone expected (2008 vs 2015) The article talks about hostility towards Toyota in Detroit 25 yrs ago and how Toyota plans to overwhelm Detroit.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7528898/site/newsweek/

Exerpts:

"The Americanization of Toyota is at full throttle. The Japanese automaker has abandoned its old doctrine of "cooperative competition," by which it kept a respectful distance behind GM rather than embarrass one of America's trophy companies."

"...record sales (it earned more money last year than GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler combined..."

"Industry experts predict it will overtake GM by 2008. "Toyota," says veteran analyst Maryann Keller, "is moving in for the kill.""

" "They're very aggressive," says GM VP Mark LaNeve. "I truly see us as the underdog now. In my mind, they're No. 1 and we're No. 2." " <--GM VP admitting defeat?

" Hybrids were hard, but creating Scion was like a personality transplant for Toyota. Long before "Pimp My Ride" took hip-hop car culture mainstream, a small band of U.S. Toyota execs shocked the brass in Japan by proposing a $1 billion bet on a new line of funky lowriders aimed at urban youth. Never mind the investment—Toyota's traditionalists were horrified by Scion's research methods. "When they heard we were talking to hip-hop artists," recalls Scion's first chief, Jim Farley, "they said, 'Isn't that drug dealers and the gang culture?' " Scion = gangster?

-Fuad

[Xtrema]

There's not doubt GM is going down.

G6, LaCrosse and Malibu isn't pulling their weight they supposed to. Trucks and SUVs sales are going south as gas price rises.

Their killer product Solstice is delayed, won't be here til fall (which is a BIG mistake IMO). They need that car out NOW for the covertible season.

The only thing going right for them is rebadged Daewoos that at least in Canada is getting some followings.

[rice_eater]

Originally posted by max_boost
Doesn't affect me, I don't like their cars anyway

dude GM owns most of the car companies in the world, a lot of famous brands too in every continent, they dont just make cavaliers and grand ams

[rice_eater]

"...record sales (it earned more money last year than GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler combined..."

that is STUPID and you'd be a dumbass not to realize that OFCOURSE they made more than the big 3, since 2 of them have just been losing money... do they expect srt-4 and magnum sales from dodge to tip the scale the other way??

[AsianCaucasian]

Originally posted by rice_eater


dude GM owns most of the car companies in the world, a lot of famous brands too in every continent, they dont just make cavaliers and grand ams

Only GM line i like is SAAB wait... does that mean Subaru is going down too?

[ken-gsr]

uh ohh do we have a domestic car lover here. lol. what ever i like honda, i say jdm for life.

[SwitchBlade]

Originally posted by AsianCaucasian


Only GM line i like is SAAB wait... does that mean Subaru is going down too?

Nope, GM only owns 20% of the Fuji Heavy industries, Subaru business unit.

[Godfuader]

Originally posted by rice_eater
&quot;...record sales (it earned more money last year than GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler combined...&quot;

that is STUPID and you'd be a dumbass not to realize that OFCOURSE they made more than the big 3, since 2 of them have just been losing money... do they expect srt-4 and magnum sales from dodge to tip the scale the other way??

Why dont you enlighten me as to how sales are calculated to earnings ratio. Then lets see how 'newsweek' calculates their ratios to come to the conclusion. Losing money and sales ratios have co-relations to determine a companies inflows for a term. Why dont you contact 'Newsweek' to see if they incorporated straight earnigs or earnings minus costs. Dont worry, GM isn't going under any time soon so your neon can be serviced for years to come!

[BumpinTalon]

of all the people to take the lead, it's Toyota?? eew. they don't make any good cars anymore.

[01RedDX]

.

[heavyD]

I'm not a huge supporter of American Three but I think that the demise of them would hurt automobile enthusiasts like me.

Toyota is recording record sales with a line of cars devoid of any personality, perfromance, or innovation. They axed the Celica and now have no performance cars.

Honda is going to the Vanilla rout also. Acura is where all their nice cars are now like RSX, TSX, TL (except the S2000 which may get cancelled soon).

Maybe it's me but I fear a world where everyone drives Camrys, Accords, and Corollas.

[SwitchBlade]

Originally posted by BumpinTalon
of all the people to take the lead, it's Toyota?? eew. they don't make any good cars anymore.

It doesn't really surpise me that Toyota is leading or in second in the automotive world. If you have researched them you will find out that they pioneered the lean manufacturing technique. Which opposes the traditional mass production technique that domestics and european manufacturers use. It allowed them to leap frog all of the competition. Other, manufacturers are still trying to catch up.

I think they make exceptional cars. At one time the Toyota plant had around 45 defects per 100 cars. Whereas, the General Motors mass production plant could have 135 defects per 100 cars. This meant that in the General Motors plant was producing cars with more than one defect. Furthermore, it meant that the Toyota plant was producing twice as many vehicles in the same amount of time if not less.

I would agree with heavy that Toyota needs a sports car in their lineup. Hopefully, the Supra gets re-introduced.

[heavyD]

Originally posted by SwitchBlade


It doesn't really surpise me that Toyota is leading or in second in the automotive world. If you have researched them you will find out that they pioneered the lean manufacturing technique. Which opposes the traditional mass production technique that domestics and european manufacturers use. It allowed them to leap frog all of the competition. Other, manufacturers are still trying to catch up.

I think they make exceptional cars. At one time the Toyota plant had around 45 defects per 100 cars. Whereas, the General Motors mass production plant could have 135 defects per 100 cars. This meant that in the General Motors plant was producing cars with more than one defect. Furthermore, it meant that the Toyota plant was producing twice as many vehicles in the same amount of time if not less.

I would agree with heavy that Toyota needs a sports car in their lineup. Hopefully, the Supra gets re-introduced.

You are right to an extent but Kaizen has been around for a while and is used all over in manufacturing facilities. I was just in Salt Lake City and visited one of our pump manufacturing facilities as well as one of our rubber manufacturing facilities and they both have have incorporated the Lean process for years with the "five S's" & "7 wastes" etc. This isn't new stuff.

It's just a cycle that's all. Mitsubishi is in trouble right now, Nissan was almost dead in the early 90's. Toyota will have their day also.

[nhlfan]

what is lean manufacturing?

[Godfuader]

Originally posted by 01RedDX


Neon is a Daimler-Chrysler product.

My bad! was implying Daimler-Chrysler.