GM back in #1 spot...

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mrsilv04

mrsilv04

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After a strong third quarter, General Motors Corp. regained its No. 1 ranking.

The Detroit-based automaker reported global sales of 7.06 million for the first nine months of the year, a number boosted by overseas sales, particularly of the Chevrolet brand and the Opel Corsa small car.

That’s a lead of 10,000 vehicles over Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp., which has taken its share of dings in recent weeks, from losing top executives to watching its brand-defining reputation for top quality questioned by Consumer Reports. >>

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071022/BUSINESS01/71022096/1014
 
Toyota now has problems with transmissions in the new Tundras. Possibly another big recall coming.
 
Toyota may be quickly learning that there are problems when you try to be a manufacturer that has an offering for everyone.

The big wigs at GM have to be laughing now. Toyota took the lead, lost the lead, and now Toyota is having all sorts of quality issues.

Note to Toyota: Be careful what you wish for... you may get it.
 
That whole #1 spot is purely psychological. Who cares if you sell the most cars if you're doing it at a loss (like GM). You can't keep it up for too long.

Toyota certainly needs to be careful though. If its key selling points such as reliability and quality are eroded, they'll be in big trouble. Reliability and quality are the factors that buyers consider when looking at Toyota vehicles. With those gone, how else can Toyota stand out from the crowd?
 
I wouldn't care about being #1, if I'm make a huge profit on all the vehicles I sell I would be laughing all the way to the bank
 
Toyota is making a profit on every vehicle sold, not so with GM. The #1 rank is not quite as important as the profit on each vehicle. Toyota is having some problems but they are all problems that can be solved and very quickly. No one at GM is laughing. Toyota is pouring concrete and adding facilities and they are paying for their new construction out of profits. GM is not quite doing any of that and the closures are not giving the relief expected. GM is the great white hope for the US auto industry and they are investing in the future in a way not matched by Ford or Chrysler. GM is in pretty good shape because they have a good cash reserve and good products coming to market. GM does not have to keep #1, they have to just keep doing what they are doing and the numbers will take care of themselves.
 
I don't care for either one of this manufacturers, because they are not making any interesting vehicles in lower price range.
 
#1 at losing money???

Hopefully they improve in that aspect vs worry about the #1 volume spot.
 
Quote:

Toyota may be quickly learning that there are problems when you try to be a manufacturer that has an offering for everyone.

The big wigs at GM have to be laughing now. Toyota took the lead, lost the lead, and now Toyota is having all sorts of quality issues.

Note to Toyota: Be careful what you wish for... you may get it.

Click to expand...


My mother brought a 2008 Toyota Avalon. She has encountered no quality problems. It seems to me that people who buy domestic vehicles hear the news that manufacturers of superior vehicles are having minor problems and state that all of the vehicles those manufacturers worse than the ones they brought in order to avoid facing their own regret that they purchased their vehicles and not those made by those companies that they claim have went to ruin.
 


My mother brought a 2008 Toyota Avalon. She has encountered no quality problems. It seems to me that people who buy domestic vehicles hear the news that manufacturers of superior vehicles are having minor problems and state that all of the vehicles those manufacturers worse than the ones they brought in order to avoid facing their own regret that they purchased their vehicles and not those made by those companies that they claim have went to ruin.



The same can be said in reverse
wink.gif
 
Toyota both has decent products generating decent profits AND future designs that people want to purchase (Prius). GM has neither. GM has to leapfrog Toyota with some radical new designs that people will want to purchase. Something like GM Volt. If they can pull off Volt and make it work/reliable at a reasonable price, then can be back in the race. For now Toyota is in the lead regardless of day to day sales numbers.
 
Quote:

Toyota both has decent products generating decent profits AND future designs that people want to purchase (Prius). GM has neither.

Click to expand...


Well, you have to give GM some credit here lately. For example, the new Buick Enclave, the Cadillac CTS and STS, the Hybrid Tahoe/Yukon/malibu/Vue, Chevrolet Malibu, new Fullsize trucks,Cadillac Escalade, upcoming Camaro, Pontiac G8, and more. These are great new models and in the case of the Enclave and CTS they are selling right off the delivery trucks. The new CTS has the best interior I've ever seen - Lexes included. I see GM quality getting better everyday - and the media has finally taken notice. They just need to to regain what was lost due to those pitiful vehicles built in the past. This is GM's last shot at recovery. I am confident they will succeed this time.
 
GM needs to gain a lot of ground in the fiercly competitive arena of compacts. I don't really like the new Civic, but if faced with choosing between it and a Cobalt, there'd be no contest. Honda's quality DNA is present in the Civic. Mazda is kicking serious compact butt with the 3. I know small cars aren't where the big profits are, and GM is making its position clear about this by making vast improvements to its high-end vehicles only. The cheap plastics and lackluster performance needs to be done away with across the board...not just in the $60K Escalade. They need to remember that cars like the Cobalt can project an unfavorable image upon GM as a whole. The Civic has as much to do with Honda's global reputation as anything else in their lineup. Doesn't GM realize that about their less expensive cars?
 
I can see it now..

Toyota boring cars, falling quality, paying lower wages to American workers.. oF course they are making a profit!

They don't pay much to make exciting designs or build the things.

The Prius is such a tweener. I don't like the weight/handling penalty you pay for have two drive systems.
 
Quote:

I can see it now..

Toyota boring cars, falling quality, paying lower wages to American workers.. oF course they are making a profit!

They don't pay much to make exciting designs or build the things.

The Prius is such a tweener. I don't like the weight/handling penalty you pay for have two drive systems.

Click to expand...


You take as a postulate that boring and exciting are terms that describe cars, but I fail to see how they can describe cars. Cars are meant to enable people to travel from A to B. The terms boring and exciting do not apply in this context. Furthermore, you fail to state the context in which the wages Toyota pays are lower. Unless you state the context in which you speak, your statement is ambiguous. Lastly, you fail to state how Toyota's quality is falling.
 
If 'exciting' and 'boring' can't be used to describe cars, there would be no difference between makers such as Ferarri or Porsche and Toyota and Hyundai. Performance cars have 400+ hp because they're built to be exciting to drive. A Camry has 263 because it's used mostly to get from A to B in a reliable and easy-to-maintain manner. I'm sorry your driving experiences have failed to demonstrate the differences between boring and exciting, but that doesn't apply to everyone.
 
I find well built, low cost, easily maintained, comfortable, drivable, and reliable exciting.

I find 0-60 times, fat performance tires, 5000 rpm torque peaks, and sunglasses worn on the head boring.

You can project these wherever you feel appropriate.
 
Quote:

If 'exciting' and 'boring' can't be used to describe cars, there would be no difference between makers such as Ferarri or Porsche and Toyota and Hyundai.

Click to expand...


I'm gonna go out on a limb here and predict that he doesn't perceive any meaningful difference between them.

Kinda sad, really.
 
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