http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/11/gm-and-ford-may.html

Great article. It tries to give a new perspective on GM. We all have heard how American car companies have so many issues they make Jerry Springer look like an episode of Mr. Rogers, but I have heard from some experts who think this whole thing in Detroit is simply a cyclical function and any auto manufacturer is going to see it happen as they extend themselves to that kind of production level. It becomes more difficult to maintain quality control etc. Basically with the volatile fuel prices, people can change their minds on what kinds of cars they want on a wim and the capital that goes into retooling plants, clearing the old stock, restocking the dealerships and so forth, is just astronomical. Consequently it's difficult to stay competitive. Any company whether they are European, American or Japanese will have to deal with these same issues.

Still, I think Toyota has a long time before they have any real financial issues if ever especially as they have almost no debt.

Toyota was every bit as bad a GM in loading their line-up with heavy SUV's and Trucks. They opened their heavy duty truck plant just in time to see the price of gas go to $4.

I suspected that Toyota had been living too long off past harvests. America in the '50's and '60's lived off the fruits of hard work in the beginning of that century, so it's a common behavior pattern.

What really hurts Toyota is that they are poor innovators, and very, very slow adopters. The Chevy Volt will be on the market for a few years before Toyota finally offers a EREV or BEV. At least they are ahead of the curve on a fuel cell vehicle.

Now, due to low demand in the auto industry, Toyota may be delaying the production of Prius' in the plant that formerly made the Tundra. The hits just keep coming:

Link (http://www.motorauthority.com/report-toyotas-new-mississippi-plant-to-build-prius.html)

This is the hidden little secret that the media doesn't report on much. The ultra uber wise and forward thinking Toyota is suffering now pretty much like everybody else. They just have a bigger cash cushion than other car companies. Making hybrids is not the end all and be all to automotive success.

Toyota isn't on the verge of bankruptcy so I don't blame the media for not reporting on their financial troubles, which are industry wide anyway. Damn those liberal media elites for not telling us about Toyota's slumping sales figures!

Shame about the plug in Prius plant though.

I work with folks in San Antonio and they are really concerned. They just restart production but for who knows how long.

The NUMMI plant is losing a shift of truck production, and all other NA plants are losing various production days in the next few months.

Just to clarify Jason, they are thinking(and my sources say it's done) of delaying the new Mississippi start up (Which originally was to produce Higlanders, now the Prius). It's not the Tundra plant, which is San Antonio.

I work with folks in San Antonio and they are really concerned. They just restart production but for who knows how long.

The NUMMI plant is losing a shift of truck production, and all other NA plants are losing various production days in the next few months.

Just to clarify Jason, they are thinking(and my sources say it's done) of delaying the new Mississippi start up (Which originally was to produce Higlanders, now the Prius). It's not the Tundra plant, which is San Antonio.

What? What's this?? Toyota had plans to ramp up truck and SUV production? I thought they had wisely fore seen the world's dwindling oil supply and switched to building hybrids and fuel efficient cars. I thought they were part of the solution not part of the problem. I thought only the foolish domestic car companies were pursuing those horrid dinosaurs??! Oh Toyota! Say it ain't so!

What? What's this?? Toyota had plans to ramp up truck and SUV production? I thought they had wisely fore seen the world's dwindling oil supply and switched to building hybrids and fuel efficient cars. I thought they were part of the solution not part of the problem. I thought only the foolish domestic car companies were pursuing those horrid dinosaurs??! Oh Toyota! Say it ain't so!

It's worth criticizing them for this but don't pretend Toyota ever depended on SUV and truck sales to the same level GM did.

It's worth criticizing them for this but don't pretend Toyota ever depended on SUV and truck sales to the same level GM did.

Darthvader
I am not sure what you say it true. Walking down thru any parking lot I think you see a ratio of Toyota cars to SUVs, Vans and Trucks is probably less than 50%. Do you have the numbers?

Toyota

Rav4-------------------Yaris
Highlander------------Matrix
Forrunner-------------Corrola
FJ Criuser-------------Camry
Land Cruiser----------Solara
Seqouia---------------Avalon
Tundra----------------Prius
Tacoma

So seems pretty even

Chevrolet

Equinox----------------Aveo
Trailblazer-------------Cobalt
Traverse---------------HHR
Tahoe------------------Malibu
Suburban--------------Impala
Avalanche-------------Corvette
Colorado
Silverado

A little more trucks and SUVs. I left off the vans because they don't seem to be about this discussion and I left off the Toyota Venza and Chevy Camero because neither are in showrooms yet. This shows that both Chevy and Toyota have the same number of trucks and SUVs in their line up and Chevy has one less car. Does this make Chevy dependent on trucks and SUVs? Only in the sense that the trucks and SUVs earned more profit for them because the buying public sees more value in them than they do the cars. The exception being the Corvette. The Volt may become another exception. By and large, GM goes pretty much head to head in pretty much every category, the exception being the non-mild (spicy?) hybrid. It is the buying public that chooses to buy more of their trucks and SUVs than their cars.

With GM it's not really so simple. They have the Saturn line which doesn't really do much SUV stuff (although that was starting to change) and you have GMC which is all SUVs. You have Buick and Pontiac which don't do much SUV stuff either but are middle of the road fuel economy. Of course all the other brands are much smaller than Chevy, so I don't know if they should count in the head to head comparison with Toyota either. It's true, the only reason why people think GM can't build anything but trucks and SUVs is because that's what everyone was buying at the time, not because they didn't offer more realistic vehicles.

I agree that Toyota was just as hornswaggled by cheap gas prices and the dollar signs in their eyes when imbred white trash Americans were obsessed with buying trucks (to commute to the office) and Escalades that none of them could afford because they thought they were making so much money sitting on their a$$ while their house appreciated.

It's important to consider the resources each company put into SUVs vs cars and their sales figures. Of course Toyota isn't without blame but it was GM that was leading the pack by far.

imbred white trash Americans were obsessed with buying trucks (to commute to the office

Isn't this an oxymoron? Do white trash Americans have offices?:rolleyes:

lol, well, before I quit working to go to school full time, I worked at a steel service center in the shipping office, and all the guys there would drive their V10 extended cab extended bed pickups to work. I guess most didn't work in the office but the whole parking lot was full of these gas guzzlers, most of the employees were pretty red neck. I will never understand what is going through people's heads when they buy pickup trucks when they live 15 miles away on the other side of town and they want to use them for commuting to work...country music?

It's important to consider the resources each company put into SUVs vs cars and their sales figures. Of course Toyota isn't without blame but it was GM that was leading the pack by far.

That's true, I think Americans buy what they are marketed to buy sadly enough. If they see enough SUV commercials, and GM big rig product placement in Transformers etc., they will let themselves get led around by the nose.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/113658-toyota-undeniably-cheap-despite-industry-slump?source=article_lb_articles

Quite the unexpected turn of events. GM's sales, while down a whopping 31% are still down less than Ford, Honda and Toyota. Toyota had the worst December year over year sales drop.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/113658-toyota-undeniably-cheap-despite-industry-slump?source=article_lb_articles

Quite the unexpected turn of events. GM's sales, while down a whopping 31% are still down less than Ford, Honda and Toyota. Toyota had the worst December year over year sales drop.

GM's worse off than they look. Fleet sales were not down at all; their 31% drop was driven by retail. Retail sales over last year were off something like 45%.

Fleet sales hurt several ways; transaction prices are very, very low and the flood of vehicles onto the used market absolutely pounds resale values; which is a growing reason people avoid GM cars.

DaV8or - I can't believe you're comparing numbers of MODELS. Look at UNITS SOLD a year or two ago. GM was over 60% units in trucks and SUVs, 40% in cars. Toyota was, more or less the inverse of that. That's the exposure; in units and revenue.