Toyota Speeds Up Quest to Unseat GM

[Teh Ricer Civic!]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051123/ap_on_...japan_toyota_gm

...

heres my favorite part

Out of concern for GM's plight — and possibly to stave off an anti-Japanese backlash by American consumers — Toyota Chairman Hiroshi Okuda suggested earlier this year that Toyota should raise the price of car models in the United States to level the playing field.

Toyota raised prices soon after, but denied the move was to placate U.S. automakers.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

The combined developments could help Toyota surpass GM in worldwide production, although it's unclear if that would happen because Detroit-based GM is growing rapidly in Asia.

Nice to see this FINALLY factored in on one of these articles.

It wasn't immediately clear if Subaru production would be reduced or what the factory's total vehicle output would be.

Surely Subaru is not just going to stand idly by and let Toyota have their way by decreasing Subaru production?

Toyota, by contrast, is on pace to set a fourth straight year of record profits.

FOG predicted headline:

"Toyota pulls in enough profit in one year to BUY General Motors!"

After GM's latest cost cuts, the company will be able to build about 4.2 million vehicles a year in North America, down 30 percent from 2002. Toyota is expected to have North American capacity of about 1.81 million cars by then, up from 1.44 million vehicles last year, Toyota spokesman Dan Sieger said Monday.

LOOK AT ALL THOSE JOBS BEING CREATED!!! Nah, we don't need GM to employ people...

Out of concern for GM's plight — and possibly to stave off an anti-Japanese backlash by American consumers — Toyota Chairman Hiroshi Okuda suggested earlier this year that Toyota should raise the price of car models in the United States to level the playing field.

Toyota raised prices soon after, but denied the move was to placate U.S. automakers.

That's because it wasn't.... As usual, it was self serving greed and was meant as a carefully calculated insult both via the BAD PR mess it caused and the principle of the "we're better than you" rhetoric that the asian companies share and the media promotes.

Anyone else noticed that the Toyota PR department seems to "slip up" at the most APPROPRIATE times...

I mean, out of every piece of CAREFULLY honed news they've released in the past 5-6 years I can only remember 2 "screw ups" and they both seemed to involve kicking the American companies in the teeth and reminding us of how much better Japan Inc is. And how opportune that the media not let EITHER die until at least a YEAR afterward.

SCREW UP #1: "We're bigger than Ford now!" Ooopsss, we're Toyota, we were just using that "DISTINCTLY" beneficial way we calculate sales, and uh, actually *quietly* we're not as big as we thought.

SCREW UP #2 "We're so much better than the American companies that we've decided to feel sympathy and help them out by FIXING the price of the market" Oh wait, did we say that?!?!?! Actually, we were just raising prices because we're COPYING THE DOMESTICS by loading our cars with more standard features. *quietly* of course.

Seems awful funny to me....

[Guest carpetbagger]

do you ever feel like your talking to yourself? your long winded emo-boy-esq posts will do nothing for anybody, sorry

[PurdueGuy]

that factory is about 10-15 minutes from me. I've been wanting to get a tour, but have been too lazy to go ask. Guess I'd better hurry before they go re-vamping it for Toyota and don't allow tours. Though maybe they could just keep tourists away from the Toyota parts. *shrug*

[Sixty8panther]

do you ever feel like your talking to yourself?

your long winded emo-boy-esq posts will do nothing for anybody, sorry

[post="52700"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

FoG has more relevant posts than you ever will, he's a C&G longtimer and his heart is ALWAYS in the right place, you're just a instigator and probably a sexually frustrated teen.

[Guest carpetbagger]

FoG has more relevant posts than you ever will, he's a C&G longtimer and his heart is ALWAYS in the right place, you're just a instigator and probably a sexually frustrated teen.

[post="52763"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

they way you defend him, your obviously not sexually frustrated

congrats :P