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Automotive News & Views Toyota in decline in 2009?
3863 messages, Last post on Dec 08, 2009 at 7:02 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
| To go back and read old posts and see how some of the predictions turn out. One earlier post said toyota would never take a loss but they did. Another said they would manage just fine with the Freemont Plant in California and tonight the news tells us they are shutting it down and getting rid of 4000 employees. But everything is going according to plan I am sure. Things simply aren't predictable anymore. Smart Sales are off by close to 25 percent and the Mini is off 21 percent and even Subaru official car sales, I guess they consider the Forester a truck, was off 10 percent. Of course Hyundai is holding up well, they are selling cars for less than 8k on TV almost every night. One of our local dealers said they will sell a new Kia for $6999.00 if you buy two. I don't think we have seen the bottom yet and I don't believe Toyota is shutting plants down as any master plan, I think it is the economy period. They might as well shut down Suzuki in the US and save some floor space for bicycle shops. | |
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could already be sealed, according to this article from today's AN: Profitability could improve in North America, where Toyota is preparing to dissolve a loss-making plant in California that it ran with GM before the U.S. automaker left it behind in bankruptcy with its unprofitable asset-holding Motors Liquidation Co. A liquidation would likely result in a one-time loss, but it would help Toyota in the long run by raising the rate of capacity utilization at its other North American factories, analysts said. http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090804/ANA02/308049973/1289- &AssignSessionID=173357438780107 (registration link) The article goes on to talk about how Toyota has done such a good job of reining in costs and production that the loss for last quarter is much smaller than expected, and the whole year should be less bad than previously feared. But I feel for all those folks in Fremont. And what an upheaval it will be, to move Corolla and Tacoma production! Seems like it would be better to continue operating NUMMI, since it is producing models that are still selling well, than use this as an opportunity to increase production in San Antonio and points east and spend all the money it will take to move the Corolla/Tacoma lines.
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Replying to: nippononly (Aug 04, 2009 2:48 pm) |
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Battery bottleneck limits Prius output Battery bottlenecks are hurting efforts to boost output of the Toyota Prius to meet booming demand, and the problem will likely persist into next year, a Toyota official says. "The new Prius model has been excessively popular, inconveniencing some of our customers, and the factories are working overtime at full capacity," Takahiko Ijichi, Toyota senior managing director, said Tuesday at the company's quarterly earnings announcement. Toyota Motor Corp. has annual Prius capacity of 500,000 cars. Panasonic EV Energy Co., which makes the nickel-metal hydride batteries for the gasoline-electric hybrid car, can't churn out more than that right now, Ijichi said. The third-generation Prius hybrid is a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy year for the world's biggest automaker. The car is facing months-long waiting lists at dealerships and is easily outselling Honda's rival Insight hybrid in the United States. The success of the Prius in Japan is one reason Toyota says it will post its first domestic sales increase in five years. ......Ijichi said Toyota won't invest to expand Prius production until it is assured of an adequate battery supply. Battery production will increase--but gradually. Panasonic EV Energy, or PEVE, plans to boost capacity in stages to around 1 million batteries by the summer of 2010, Ijichi said. Despite cutthroat pricing to compete with the Insight, the Prius still enjoys healthy margins, Ijichi said. That's because production costs fell 30 percent from the previous generation of the hybrid. Said Ijichi: "In terms of the Toyota lineup, I'd say it's probably in the midlevel of profit." http://www.autoweek.com/article/20090805/CARNEWS/908059996 I guess that answers the question of why Tupelo Mississippi remains closed indefinitely. Maybe they will open it next summer if Panasonic really makes it to production of 1 million battery packs annually. Also, from what I understand the article is worded in a slightly deceptive way. Prius IS outselling Insight in the U.S., but the "months-long waiting lists" (8 months currently) are in Japan, not in the U.S.
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Replying to: nippononly (Aug 05, 2009 6:42 am) The half dozen in town at the two dealer lots were gone last week and no new ones have arrived, if you can believe the web inventory site. My ~9 year old Panasonic drill is still cranking out the torque on the original batteries. |
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Replying to: nippononly (Aug 05, 2009 6:42 am) I disagree. You are reading the article with a US-centric point of view. You need to read it with context. The article was written in Japan for domestic consumption but then adopted and presented as US news. Nevertheless, I think your conclusions regarding Tupelo may be valid. |
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Replying to: steve_ (Aug 05, 2009 7:16 am)
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Replying to: gagrice (Aug 05, 2009 12:48 pm) Prius is a hot HOT seller right now. |
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Replying to: gagrice (Aug 05, 2009 12:48 pm)  I don't mind losing the Lemon Law protection by buying out of state (Idaho's Lemon Law is a joke). I'm less clear on whether I could avoid CA sales tax if I buy there, but if we just sell the van, I could see flying somewhere and driving back.
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Replying to: steve_ (Aug 05, 2009 3:59 pm) |
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