Toyota Sputters as Market Shifts

[chevelle454]

Toyota Sputters

I hope this trend continues even after the market/economy recover. Maybe people will stop drinking the Toyota Koolaid

[Paolino]

Toyota Sputters

I hope this trend continues even after the market/economy recover. Maybe people will stop drinking the Toyota Koolaid

What are you kidding?! I LOVE Toyota Koolaid... it's the BEST!! Toyota Koolaid #1!!

[CARBIZ]

Don't uncork the champagne just yet. Toyota has a lot of cash reserves and, more importantly, a lot of favor with the media. It will take more than a couple bad months to undo that, I am afraid. Exploding camshafts, sponge taffy frames, snapping tailgates, coking engines, erratic transmissions, dubious frame welds - and that's just the past 2 years, have done very little to tarnish Toyota's reputation.

The well of kool aid is very, very deep.

[Guest aatbloke]

Exploding camshafts, sponge taffy frames, snapping tailgates, coking engines, erratic transmissions, dubious frame welds - and that's just the past 2 years, have done very little to tarnish Toyota's reputation.

Hardly surprising - a few Monday morning vehicles won't tarnish anyone's reputation very much, especially a strong global one such as Toyota's. We're not exactly talking Lancia Betas here.

[FAPTurbo]

Lancia Betas here.

With a name like that, you're just asking for a ton of bugs, and glitches.

[CARBIZ]

Hardly surprising - a few Monday morning vehicles won't tarnish anyone's reputation very much, especially a strong global one such as Toyota's. We're not exactly talking Lancia Betas here.

If you call the thousands and thousands of Tacomas they are secretly buying back 'a few Monday morning vehicles.'

[Guest aatbloke]

If you call the thousands and thousands of Tacomas they are secretly buying back 'a few Monday morning vehicles.'

In Toyota's overall scheme of things - yes, that's exactly what I call it. Like GM, Toyota is a huge global conglomerate and only a small portion of their global models are available in North America. A design fault with a small pick-up truck which was heavily modified for the North American market is simply not going to have the consequences for Toyota, as a company, as the Lancia Beta's problems did for Fiat in the 1970's.

Edited July 10, 2008 by aatbloke

[balthazar]

I'm more interested to watch what effect all the problems/defects will have on toyo's brand perception; the balance sheet will follow accordingly.

[97regalGS]

I'm more interested to watch what effect all the problems/defects will have on toyo's brand perception; the balance sheet will follow accordingly.

zero impact based on this stuff alone. it will take another decade of shoddy product to change the perception of the consumer.

[siegen]

shedding around 750 temporary workers at its truck and engine factories.

And there you have it, the key to Toyota's flexibility, temp workers.

Toyota makes use of temporary workers -- who accounted for about 10 percent of the work force at its truck plants

Any idea the percentage of temp workers other makes use?

Edited July 10, 2008 by siegen

[siegen]

In this environment, Honda Motor Co. has fared well because its smaller lineup is skewed toward small, fuel-efficient vehicles. By contrast, Toyota competes in every vehicle segment and some of its large models are struggling.

Wow, way to downplay Honda. Fared well? More like killed it. Last month they sold 74% as many vehicles as Toyota, without any full-size trucks, SUVs, or near the volume of hybrids. If this continues another couple years, Honda may very well overtake Toyota in the US. Of course I would never want that to happen, and I fully expect Toyota to shift production to smaller vehicles and start to see increases by the end of the year (chances are they will still be down YTD though).

The real story here, I think, is that Toyota simply isn't supplying enough smaller cars and hybrids to its dealers. Their timing and flexibility seem to be off.

[BrewSwillis]

What are you kidding?! I LOVE Toyota Koolaid... it's the BEST!! Toyota Koolaid #1!!