Toyota Issues July Results

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

If you think Toyota has problems, you sure can’t see them on their monthly report. Toyota just released sales and production numbers for July, and they look beauteous:

From January through July 2010, worldwide production rose 40.3 percent to 5m units. The July number is a bit more subdued (+ 10.7 percent worldwide,) but there is not a single minus sign on the whole report.

Last year in July, Toyota had made half of their annual production (7.2m). By that formula, Toyota could break the 10m mark this year. Unlikely to happen. The Japanese home market is expected to collapse in October. The U.S. market does not show signs of vigorous recovery. The European market will remain anemic. In China, Toyota does not have a strong position, and even China is cooling off a bit.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Mikey Mikey on Aug 27, 2010

    Oh Yeah... The unions pulled a segment of the blue collars,into the middle class. In recent times, economic reality has pushed this same group back down to the working class,"where they belong". At least that is the sentiment voiced by many of the "white collar" middle class. As "Zackman" pointed out, say good bye to a huge group of consumers,and they ain't coming back. I've bought eight new cars in my life. I'm never going to buy another one. Most,if not all of my peers feel the same way. We ,the well paid union members, were the low hanging fruit,on the socio economic scale. So guess what socio economic group might now have replaced us as "the low hanging fruit" ?

    • Caboaz Caboaz on Aug 27, 2010

      C'mon Mikey. Us white collar types have always respected the illegal aliens that mow our lawn more than union thugs. They work a helluva lot harder. Turns out, they also build cars better than union thugs too. We would have never known if it wasn't for the union greed that made us take a chance on letting them bolt together cars on their own side of the border. Seems they understand the American work ethic better than the "American" unions. Work hard for a fair wage and get ahead - as opposed to the union creed of slack all day, collect my pay and then complain. If you think that white collar jobs are next, you're absolutely right but not for the reasons you think. We're taking white collar jobs offshore because Congress is an enemy of business, making it too diffcult and expensive to do business in the U.S. We're not being replaced by foreign workers, we're voluntarily moving to countries that respect and support business. And we're leaving you behind to lay in the bed you made.

  • Mikey Mikey on Aug 27, 2010

    So ...your gonn'a move to another country. Seems a bit radical. Do entry level "white collar" jobs pay 40 or 60k a year in India?

  • Jj99 Jj99 on Aug 27, 2010

    Toyota makes the most durable, reliable, and affordable cars on the planet. They will continue to grow and prosper.

  • SCE to AUX SCE to AUX on Aug 28, 2010

    Americans love an underdog, and that's how Toyota seemed when the UA thing was going down. I don't think people were very concerned - maybe even thought it was bunk - and responded by continuing to buy Toyotas.

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