How the mighty have fallen. I keep hearing GM is bigger than Ford again, it hardly matters when Toyota is bigger than all 3 combined.
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/busines...ysler/23852189/
US 2014 earnings before interest and taxes
$6.5 billion for GM,
$6.3 billion for Ford,
$3.9 billion for Fiat Chrysler
Toyota:
$24.5 billion for the fiscal year ending March 31.
Even if the per-car profit gap is due to the falling Yen, that doesn't account for the yawning chasm in market share, vehicles sold and gross revenues. I think it was 2011 when Toyota momentarily lost first place to GM.
In other news, an American Marque finally made CR's top ten auto brands FOR THE FIRST TIME:
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2015/02/24/consumer-reports-brands/23940171/
So, good job there, Buick. Perhaps more remarkable is Honda and Acura's downward trajectory to 8th and 11th place. I guess all those new boring Civics, little quality issues and VCM problems are taking its toll.
Mercedes fell from 9th to 21st. Ouch. FCA bumps along the bottom still, no surprise there (speaking as a Dodge owner, DaimlerChrysler era, but whatever).
It really freaks me out to see Audi and Porsche on the top 10 list. These are brands I mentally equate with awesome driving, over-engineered, unreliable vehicles with crazy repair costs and hard to debug problems.
You can say it's all CR's opinion but it all came from 1.1 Million actual vehicle owners.
Here's 2014Q3 sales in Japan:
http://www.best-selling-cars.com/japan/2014-q3-japan-best-selling-car-brand-models/
Notice Toyota is almost twice the sales of Honda. This is a story of falling market share- when I was in Japan in the 90's, EVERYTHING was Toyota, I tried doing a car count and came out about 19 in 20 were some Toyota brand. I'd like to see Daihatsu over here. Daihatsu is quite the plucky little auto maker of plucky little cars.
Honda is doing quite well in Japan now. Years ago they were utterly dependent on US sales and hardly existed in Japan.
My take from both of these articles- even though US auto makers came roaring back after shedding huge pension and overhead liabilities, they are so far in the shadow of Toyota that it is time to admit there's a real problem here. You can point out quality problems (they all have them) but what matters here is Toyota is making automobiles that people want to buy, and those buyers (by and large) are happy with them.
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/busines...ysler/23852189/
US 2014 earnings before interest and taxes
$6.5 billion for GM,
$6.3 billion for Ford,
$3.9 billion for Fiat Chrysler
Toyota:
$24.5 billion for the fiscal year ending March 31.
Even if the per-car profit gap is due to the falling Yen, that doesn't account for the yawning chasm in market share, vehicles sold and gross revenues. I think it was 2011 when Toyota momentarily lost first place to GM.
In other news, an American Marque finally made CR's top ten auto brands FOR THE FIRST TIME:
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2015/02/24/consumer-reports-brands/23940171/
So, good job there, Buick. Perhaps more remarkable is Honda and Acura's downward trajectory to 8th and 11th place. I guess all those new boring Civics, little quality issues and VCM problems are taking its toll.
Mercedes fell from 9th to 21st. Ouch. FCA bumps along the bottom still, no surprise there (speaking as a Dodge owner, DaimlerChrysler era, but whatever).
It really freaks me out to see Audi and Porsche on the top 10 list. These are brands I mentally equate with awesome driving, over-engineered, unreliable vehicles with crazy repair costs and hard to debug problems.
You can say it's all CR's opinion but it all came from 1.1 Million actual vehicle owners.
Here's 2014Q3 sales in Japan:
http://www.best-selling-cars.com/japan/2014-q3-japan-best-selling-car-brand-models/
Notice Toyota is almost twice the sales of Honda. This is a story of falling market share- when I was in Japan in the 90's, EVERYTHING was Toyota, I tried doing a car count and came out about 19 in 20 were some Toyota brand. I'd like to see Daihatsu over here. Daihatsu is quite the plucky little auto maker of plucky little cars.
Honda is doing quite well in Japan now. Years ago they were utterly dependent on US sales and hardly existed in Japan.
My take from both of these articles- even though US auto makers came roaring back after shedding huge pension and overhead liabilities, they are so far in the shadow of Toyota that it is time to admit there's a real problem here. You can point out quality problems (they all have them) but what matters here is Toyota is making automobiles that people want to buy, and those buyers (by and large) are happy with them.
