Toyota Moves The Goalposts
CNBC reports that Toyota is revising its sales estimates for 2008. ToMoCo had projected sales of 9.85m units worldwide. They've dropped expectations by 300k, setting a new goal of 9.5m units. Though sales are down in Europe and Japan, Toyota is blaming the stagnant American market for the expected decrease. Having already announced production cuts at three US plants, this could be bad news for Toyota's bid to become the global volume sales leader– were it not for the fact that its competitor for the title is General Motors. While Toyota is still likely to outstrip GM despite the sales goal cutback, it's unlikely to meet GM's single-year sales record of 9.55m set back in 1978. ToMoCo shares are currently underperforming even the weak Japanese transport equipment subindex, thanks to sell-offs in anticipation of slowing demand. But, Naoki Fujiwara, fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management, reckons that Toyota's high dividend and long-term positioning make it a good buy. Roger that.
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Anyone who blindly thinks all imports are reliable and domestics aren't is intellectually dishonest. Anecdotes can be found an all sides (how about the 1.1 million mile camaro with original engine and trans?). Also, for all of you who say you prefer Toyota and Honda because of CR and JDP, what is wrong with Ford? From CR's website: "Ford has climbed to fifth place in our reliability standings. In our latest survey, 93 percent of Ford models had average or better reliability..." Ford hasn't had a botched launch in years unlike Toyota with the Tundra and the V6 Camry. The Fusion is ranked higher than the Camry (4 & 6) in just about every quality study including CR. The V6 Camry is significantly below average in CR! I think buying a Toyota has more to do with what your neighbors will think than with reliability or practicality.
Pch101, As a whole, I agree that Japanese imports are more reliable than domestics. But can you honestly say you'd buy a v6 camry over a v6 fusion because of reliability reasons despite all evidence to the contrary? General statements about reliability are worthless when you have wide variations in quality within a manufacturer, like Toyota.
prndlol: Why can't everyone else see that? The flat, bulbous Camry? the Corolla that looks like GM designed it, and it looks like its outer parts came from diffeent countries? The Tacoma is a slightly modified Colorado. Honda can blow all that away (except the Tacorado). Easily. In quality, performance, especially, and appearance. Period.