Toyota's Onslaught

[Ratko]

This is the year of Hurricane Katrina; in the car business 2006 will be the year of Hurricane Toyota. Expect a storm of vehicles with potential to do incredible damage, and not just to General Motors and Ford. Honda and Nissan could be hurt, and the smaller Japanese companies--Subaru, Mazda, Isuzu, Suzuki, Mitsubishi--are particularly vulnerable because they don't have the marketing power to fight back. Even the Germans could be hurt. The new vehicles I'm talking about are coming out in the next 12 months, but we'll see their effect in 2007. Indeed, by the end of 2007 Toyota could pass DaimlerChrysler and even be challenging Ford as the second-largest seller of cars in the U.S.

Toyota will expand its manufacturing capacity in the U.S. even more. Right now one new Toyota assembly plant is being built in Texas for big pickup trucks. Another will be built in Canada for sport utilities. The automaker says it needs more engine and transmission capacity, and I expect that by 2007 there will be another assembly plant announcement. Will Toyota take over one of the plants General Motors or Ford is abandoning? Why should it, when governments will give any car company hundreds of millions in tax breaks, construction help and employee training, to build new plants?

More here: http://www.forbes.com/execpicks/glob...1226/030A.html

[Ruffrydasean]

Kickin Ass and takin names... that why I love Toyota

[ECHOKnight2000]

I always seem to read conflicting reports. Some say Toyota has already passed Chrysler, others say its on its way, also I read that Toyota surpassed Ford as the number two in the U.S. Or maybe that was in the world? I don't know! Anyone can help me on this? i heard these statements from various sources, so I'm not sure. Its good that Toyota is making its way on top, but as soon as it gets there I bet there's going to be more "haters." Its a jealousy thing, maybe I could be wrong. But eventhough Toyota is nabbing up market share I'm sure they're well aware of not growing too fast cause it could backfire, sort of like the economy in a boom then it busts. Sort of like Nissan, it did a major turn around and I commend them but it happen too fast it can backfire, I read that for November sales were down and they look like they would be going down for December, it could be just one of those don't have good sales for awhile then bounce back, but I don't know, I'm just talking out my butt. Any thoughts on this anyone?

[Bakemono]

Great news. As long as quality isnt sacraficed, I say go for the jugular!

[AvalonMan96]

Originally Posted by Ruffrydasean

Kickin Ass and takin names... that why I love Toyota

[CorollaDX-R]

i thought toyota is already in 2nd place and catching up to GM fast...

[CACressida]

Originally Posted by CorollaDX-R

i thought toyota is already in 2nd place and catching up to GM fast...

Me to.

[jhbhatia]

Toyota is in 2nd place. heck i used to own the stock when it went from 50's to 70's when we surpassed diamler and then ford, i know this. Well to be exact, we surpassed ford twice, once unofficially, and then officially - cus of wrong sales numbers in a month that gauged the sales. Bottomline: the whole validity of that ariticle is now questionable to me since they didn't do their homework!

[chindo]

They are 2nd in the world but in America I believe they still trail GM and Ford.