Toyota to Increase Overseas Production by 40%

[Variance]

Toyota to Increase Overseas Production by 40%

Toyota Motor Corp. is quickening its quest to unseat ailing rival General Motors Corp. as the world's biggest automaker and widen its lead over Ford Motor Co. with reported plans to boost overseas production by 40 percent to 5 million vehicles by 2008 and blueprints for higher output in North America.

Read "Toyota moves to top GM with reported plan to boost U.S. output" @ The Detroit News

[sciguy_0504]

Will recalls go up by 40%, too?

The growth is outrageous. It has to slow down for the long haul.

[Dsuupr]

Remember, when toyota does something they go overboard. With that in mind, recalls should go up by atleast 80%.

[FAPTurbo]

If they are just doing this to unseat GM and become the worlds largest carmaker, then they are one petty company.

Already they are dealing with recalls, and this will likely cause more recalls in the future, further eliminating the "quality" that Toyota built its business on.

They want to be the largest automaker in the world, let them. "Woohoo, Toyota, you're number one, but your trucks still suck, and your jellybeans on wheels cause me to lose testosterone everytime I look at them. Thanks to you, I have to sit on the toilet and impulsively buy Maxi Pads for those 'heavy rain days'..."

Oh well... Maybe if they are number one, then people will put them under the microscope and critique them with more scrutiny.

[Paolino]

Fine, let them. Let them grow and grow and then become a world-known company with inferior products. You can't grow that much in that little of time and not have growing pains.

[andy82471]

Fine, let them.  Let them grow and grow and then become a world-known company with inferior products.  You can't grow that much in that little of time and not have growing pains.

195309[/snapback]

Like it or not they will sell 9.8 million vehicles because there are 9.8 million people worldwide who would buy TOYOTA products in 2008. Their growth is coming as a result of high demand globally. Now if quality takes a backseat to quantity and more and more people are aware of it then they might not sell 9.8 million cars like they are predicting.

[CARBIZ]

Isn't it interesting how Japan Inc. operates? They are all modest and humble in the beginning so that nobody perceives them as a threat, then when they are the juggernaut, the mask comes off and - POW!!!!

Well, at least Japan has to admit one thing: TOYOTA COULD NEVER HAVE REACHED #1 WITHOUT AMERICANS. They have to give America some credit.

They can't deny that, at least. Without the 2 million or so CULTURAL SUICIDES that occur every year in America, Toyota would just be another also-ran.

[siegen]

Isn't it interesting how Japan Inc. operates?  They are all modest and humble in the beginning so that nobody perceives them as a threat, then when they are the juggernaut, the mask comes off and - POW!!!!

  Well, at least Japan has to admit one thing: TOYOTA COULD NEVER HAVE REACHED #1 WITHOUT AMERICANS.  They have to give America some credit.

  They can't deny that, at least.  Without the 2 million or so CULTURAL SUICIDES that occur every year in America, Toyota would just be another also-ran.

198769[/snapback]

Japan Inc?

[toyoguy]

Like it or not they will sell 9.8 million vehicles because there are 9.8 million people worldwide who would buy TOYOTA products in 2008. Their growth is coming as a result of high demand globally. Now if quality takes a backseat to quantity and more and more people are aware of it then they might not sell 9.8 million cars like they are predicting.

198767[/snapback]

Toyota said yrs ago there was more demand than supply in Europe.

Toyota is just giving the people what they want. :AH-HA_wink:

[CARBIZ]

Japan Inc: the orchestrated attack on industry in foreign nations by MITI in Japan. In his first book, Lee Iaccoca talks about the "cooperation" and pooling of information that the Big Five were doing in Japan in the '80s, things that would be illegal if done in the U.S.

MITI directed Toshiba, Sanyo, etc. in the '60s and '70s to wipe out the American television and radio business, through direct subsidies and dumping of products on the American market.

We all know how that ended up.

[Paolino]

Like it or not they will sell 9.8 million vehicles because there are 9.8 million people worldwide who would buy TOYOTA products in 2008. Their growth is coming as a result of high demand globally. Now if quality takes a backseat to quantity and more and more people are aware of it then they might not sell 9.8 million cars like they are predicting.

198767[/snapback]

Yes, but their quality will have to suffer with such an enormous increase in production. They may sell millions the first year or two, but if their quality tanks, don't think people won't notice.

[Petra]

As thegriffon has been saying all along, keep a close eye on Toyota's white-collar workforce. They have about the same # of employees in that field as they did 5-10 years ago, but they now have to work on many more models; just think about the work that goes into the SCION lineup alone, which must be totally refreshed every 4-5 years. The delay of the next-gen. Corolla is, IMO, the tip of the iceberg. I expect to see more delays and more noticeable oversights in the coming years as Toyota continues striving to do more with less.

[siegen]

They are all modest and humble in the beginning so that nobody perceives them as a threat, then when they are the juggernaut, the mask comes off and - POW!!!!

Toyota is a company in business to make money, just like GM or Ford. If GM or Ford didn't perceive them as a threat, then they are obviously paying the price now. Every company that competes with you is a threat, regardless of how small they start out.

And even if Toyota is some evil empire bent on world domination (I have probably said so myself before :AH-HA_wink:), do Toyota's current actions represent all of Japan's industry? Would GM or Ford do anything different if they were in the same position? Would any company not continue to expand on their success?

[CARBIZ]

Although we have beaten to death the discussion on Japan not being a level playing field with the rest of the world, I would expand that to all of Asia.

Toyota is very much representative of what is wrong with our trade practices with Japan and, indeed, the rest of Asia.

Look at the struggles Toys R Us had getting into Japan a few years back. Time and time again, the Japanese system blocks or prevents foreign competition, right up to the point of cancelling travel visas for key foreign personnel. Not only does this prevent any kind of real foreign ownership of assets or technology inside Japan, it also means that foreign companies are forced to form "alliances" with Japanese companies, thus the influx of technologies are "shared" with their "partner."

And we all know where that ends up!

And I cry when I see all the American and European companies lining up to do business in China -of course that business entails showing them our manufacturing secrets and teaching them to build things so that they can then turn around in a few years and dump them on our markets.

This naive type of diplomacy only works in lesser countries and where free markets are encouraged. Neither Japan, Korea or China pass the test for true free market economies. The U.S. has been trying to give a hand up to Mexico for about 25 years - and where is that getting you?

Don't get me wrong: I am very much for Free Trade, but what we are witnessing is not true Free Trade. That is my point.