'Grasping For Salvation'

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Toyota President: Company 'Grasping For Salvation'

Quote:
...Toyota at the fourth of five stages on the road to corporate annihilation, and it shows Toyoda is fully aware of the dire situation he was handed when he took the reigns of the company three months ago. The fifth stage is "capitulation to irrelevance or death," which in an automotive context would mean bankruptcy.



"corporate annihilation"???

"dire situation"???

"capitulation to irrelevance or death"???

Toyota?!

Unbelievable!
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They probably have more going for them than any other automotive company. Arguably the best reputataion, clearly the leader in Hybrid technology, a full line of autos all at least mid-pack in their markets.

Unfortunately, they have tons of excess capacity, and they are headed in a direction where they will treat the auto market like a commodity market, which is exactly the opposite of what you should do if you're charging a premium by marketing your cars as "not like the rest". For example, the Corolla was a market leader for decades. The current car is (from a sales standpoint) a complete and total failure for this exact reason. It's average in the market (at best) but costs as much or more than leaders in the market like the Mazda 3 or Civic. So if that can happen to their historically best selling car, why couldn't it happen to the company as a whole?
 
Exactly.

The boring-but-reliable thing only gets you so far. They are definitely going to pay for ditching their more exciting models. When you sterilize and commoditize your products to the extent that they did, it's only a matter of time before no one cares enough about them to buy them.
 
Originally Posted By: bepperb
For example, the Corolla was a market leader for decades. The current car is (from a sales standpoint) a complete and total failure for this exact reason. It's average in the market (at best) but costs as much or more than leaders in the market like the Mazda 3 or Civic. So if that can happen to their historically best selling car, why couldn't it happen to the company as a whole?


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Lets look at May 09 top seller.

May 09 top sellers

Take away the trucks and which one is #2?

Lets look at the first6 months;

Top selling vehicles six months

Which one is still up there and leading their class?

How about the total joke program called Cash for Clunkers?

C4C sales

Which car is up there?

Does not look like "total failure" when you look at the numbers.

I sure don't see Mazda as a "leader" on any of the lists. In fact they are not even on the radar.
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With this said. I'm not a fan of the new Corolla, but it IS SELLING WELL.

Bill
 
The current Corolla is a soulless commuter box. It works, and that's it.

Good for Toyota recognizing they need more exciting models that people care to drive instead of driving one because they're reliable and boring.
 
Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
Quote:

The current Corolla is a soulless commuter box. It works, and that's it.


That's all the buyers are looking for.


+1, when I was looking for a new car in 2008, I wanted a soulless "appliance" that would be relatively trouble free and deliver good MPGs. The Corolla with the rebate they had filled that need for me.

The car is not exciting to drive in the least, but that is not my primary concern. Having a vehicle I could potentially run to 200K without being in the shop all the time is what I look for in a commuter.

My Corolla was 14K out the door. The Civics and Mazdas were no where near that price even in equivalent trim (sans power windows and locks). In fact, Honda wanted a small fortune for a base Civic and wouldn't deal. Didn't want to take a chance on an automatic Honda anyway and went with the Corolla's Aisan tranny which is pretty stout in this model.

Flame away!
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Toyota must be having the same trouble as GM.

Both sell more vehicles than anybody else, but compared to last year's YTD sales GM is down 36% and Toyota almost 28%.

Both were too big to manage that much sales loss.



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So, compared to the last year, Hyundai and Kia sales up. Hmmm, those "junk" cars sure do sell well. Subaru, Kia and Hyundai...
Subaru has AWD, that what draws people into the show rooms. Hyundai and Kia have lower prices and great quality. Reminds me of Toyota and Honda in the 80's, before they were so full of themselves.

September 2009, only Hyundai and Kia post double digit increase in sales. Not too shabby.
 
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What a crock. Toyota has had what....one annual loss in the last 50 years? I'm not a fan of Toyota cars at all, but they are dominating global auto sales. There's just no way to negatively spin that. It was an amusing read though.
 
Another take on this is that Toyota management has taken the lead in recognizing that they have a problem.
Contrast that with GM, which lost market share and unit volume for decades, all the while thinking that prosperity was just around the corner.
At least the Toyota folk are not whistling in the dark.
Perhaps we can look for some exciting products from Toyota over the next few years. They have shown in the past that they can move quickly if they need to.
Finally, the Corolla has rarely been anything like interesting. For millions of folks over the years, that has been just fine. If they want interesting, they buy elsewhere.
 
If there is anyone I'm going to shed a tear for, it certainly isn't Toyota and the protectionist government they have working for them.

Dear Toyota: Get Bent.
 
You guys do realize he is quoting out of a Jim Collins book.
"corporate annihilation" "dire situation" "capitulation to irrelevance or death" is Mr. Toyoda quoting the author and stating how the book is applicable to their situation.
 
Originally Posted By: tom slick
You guys do realize he is quoting out of a Jim Collins book.
"corporate annihilation" "dire situation" "capitulation to irrelevance or death" is Mr. Toyoda quoting the author and stating how the book is applicable to their situation.


Shhh....why let common sense get in the way of some yellow "journalism?"

Seriously, our domestic automakers are suffering from mostly self inflicted wounds. Blaming "the other guy" for remaining standing while you bleed to death from cutting your own jugular is just...well....foolish.
 
"The reports of Toyota's death are greatly exaggerated"
Another quote (sort of) from a famous author.


And if you look at top-selling cars over the years - Camry, Corolla, Civic, Accord, Taurus, it's clearly evident that volume is in vanilla.
 
Originally Posted By: robbobster
"The reports of Toyota's death are greatly exaggerated"
Another quote (sort of) from a famous author.


And if you look at top-selling cars over the years - Camry, Corolla, Civic, Accord, Taurus, it's clearly evident that volume is in vanilla.


Maybe there is hope for us since common sense is what people are using when buying cars like that.

Heaven forbid someone has a dependable safe vehicle that is practical.
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Bill
 
I think the Corolla is one of the bright spots for Toyota, as is the excellent and simple Yaris....These two models while not exciting, are what made Toyota a raging success in the first place....build a high quality, reliable product, that is very affordable to buy and inexpensive to maintain for the masses. SUCCESS!

I don't love either one BUT they get the job done and very well thank you...

The biggest problem Toyota has is the Camry...it has been made too complex and expensive..which has made it less reliable and reduced overall quality since about the late 90's.

Toyota also should have NEVER EVER strayed into the "big pickemup truck" market....period.
 
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