Toyota: Down In The U.S., Up In China
Good news, bad news times at Toyota. First, the bad news.
As you heard yesterday, Toyota’s sales were down again in the U.S. They sold 129,317 cars in the U.S. in November. Automotive News [sub] has them down 3 percent on the year. Adjusted for sales days, the are down 7.3 percent, says The Nikkei [sub], while rubbing it in that Nissan had an “increase of about 20 percent.”
Now the good news: In China, Toyota’s new car sales shot up 17.2 percent. 82,900 Toyotas changed hands in China in November, says The Nikkei [sub] in a separate report. This comes as a double relief to ToMoCo. First, it takes the sting off the U.S. drop. Second, it allays worries that Toyota goes downhill in the Middle Kingdom.
Chinese sales had dropped in October, the first retreat in 18 months, and that while the overall China market had increased. Toyota fought back with incentives and heavy promotions. Total Chinese sales for the first 11 months are up 16.7 percent to 726,500 units. Toyota is now positive to make their annual sales target of 800,000 units. Believe it or not, that still makes Toyota the second largest passenger vehicle brand after Volkswagen in China.
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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Toyota is down a bit, but is still the largest overseas brand in the US. Wasn't that Mark 10 / Reiz the bases for one of the US Lexus models?
Reading the story, it sounds like Toyota is becoming dependent on incentives in many places for it to stay afloat. Sounds like old GM if you ask me.
Sounds like they may have been overpriced in the first placed -high prices gotten from customers based on their past reliability advantage.