Toyota could see bumpy road ahead

[mustang84]

http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/21/news/compa...sion=2006092107

"Toyota has a lot of new product in the pipeline that no one else can match, but it's going to start getting a little tougher," said Joe Langley, market analyst for auto consultant and research firm CSM. "GM is getting more on its game and Toyota has got to be looking over their shoulder at Hyundai. Further out, the Chinese could be a very difficult situation."

Right now Toyota only has 258 retirees from its North American manufacturing operations, but that is expected to increase rapidly in the coming five to 10 years, said company spokesman Victor Vanov. Even if Toyota is miles away from the hundreds of thousands of Big Three retirees, their cost advantage appears poised to narrow.

"If the Big Three succeed in their restructuring, it's really going to be tougher for Toyota," said Walter McManus, an auto industry expert at the University of Michigan.

[Drew Dowdell]

Toyota has a lot of new product in the pipeline that no one else can match

Priming the pump a bit much?

If he's refering to the Tundra, the GMT-900s at least match, if not exceed it.

The Cobalt is catching up to the Corolla, especially in profitability. The Cobalts MCE will fall very near to the all new Corolla, which by the looks of the spy shots, isn't something to write home about.

The new CTS looks to match the GS

The Lucerne is already outselling the Avalon

I have my doubts that a new RWD Impala will come close to the sales of a Camry, but it will at least gain on it.

So yeah, Toyota isn't that far ahead of the game.

[Croc]

Note the name of the man who was quoted, Oldsmoboi. There is some significance to it, and I am not at liberty to post publicly about it (NO ONE ELSE SHOULD EITHER) but suffice to say it is a credible source. PM me if you really gotta know...

[FAPTurbo]

Note the name of the man who was quoted, Oldsmoboi.  There is some significance to it, and I am not at liberty to post publicly about it (NO ONE ELSE SHOULD EITHER) but suffice to say it is a credible source.  PM me if you really gotta know...

196316[/snapback]

[Guest YellowJacket894]

:AH-HA_wink:

[Drew Dowdell]

Note the name of the man who was quoted, Oldsmoboi.  There is some significance to it, and I am not at liberty to post publicly about it (NO ONE ELSE SHOULD EITHER) but suffice to say it is a credible source.  PM me if you really gotta know...

196316[/snapback]

I'm not arguing with his credibility, he might be able to see the entire Toyota lineup till 2020, but that doesn't mean the GM, or anyone else for that matter, can't match it.

But more importantly, when we here these "We are Toyota of Borg, Prepair to be assimulated" messages we end up with just a "ho-hum" product. Sure it's blandly styled, sure it's resonably reliable, but GM, Honda, Acura, MB have all shown they can easily "match" Toyota when they put their pencils to it.

[Northstar]

GM doesn't need to match Toyota, they need to beat them.

Anyways, I don't think more retirees will really matter. Toyota is swimming in so much cash that even if they're profits are halved, they'll still have more dough than anyone else.