Toyota is No 1, yet again !

Toyota has regained the Numero Uno position, in car sales, for H1 - 2012. Sales figures are as follows:

1. Toyota - 4.97 million cars
2. General Motors - 4.67 million cars
3. VW - 4.45 million cars

For an average car customer, this is no longer relevant. In an era of recalls, across several major brands, his interest lies elsewhere - in SAFETY.

Hope, all the car mfrers have learnt the lessons from past and try to focus on leadership in safety also... a holistic market leadership !

 

gulfnews : Toyota flags industry concerns

The top concers for global auto industry.... reiterated by Toyota Head

1. Euro concern, 
2. Rising Yen
3. Slowing US economy

Last year it was natural disasters.... this year may be man-made disasters ?!

gulfnews : Toyota flags industry concerns

Leadership lessons from Toyota's recall crisis

Came across this interesting article in Fortune on Toyota. *

Virtually every one was critical about the re-call fiasco at Toyota.

• The customers ( present, past & future?) were upset for failing to live up to their (our) perception about Toyota quality !
• People representative, government agencies and relative departments, were quick to pounce on the copmany 
• Media was quick to jump, to give maximum coverage, may be in their pursuit of TRP, rather than customer safety ( environmental safety is beyond most of media, anyways!)
• Experts were quick to point out the whole episode as a 'PR fiasco'. They meant, if Toyota had handled PR well, just as most mega corps may do, it would have been less damaging !!
• Even nature seemed to be furious, unleashing disasters at their facilities in Japan & Thailand !

Perhaps all forgot the fact, for every Toyota recall crisis, 100 go unreported - we can blame it on an indifferent consumer, irresponsible govt machinery & media... and, a bit of PR effort by the erring organisations !

Now, at the end of the recall crisis, Toyota can breathe easily. We are talking about a 800k cars officially involved in recall ! Mind-blowing numbers, surely.

Thrust into the presidency in 2009, he would be preferred a less dramatic period to settle down. But, he had to face a series of challenges, natural & man-made ( are all not man-made, at a holistic level ?)

Toyota is on a come-back trail. Lot of credit goes to the leadership.
They will (have to ) focus more on quality, will launch many news models/variants (over 20 planned in 2012), will energise not only their Lexus brand, but also the manpower....
The youthful leader now appears less in suits, but more in the garb of a racer !!
Of course, media is only keen to oblige !!

Interesting times ahead for the automobile enthusiast !


* Check out the link
http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/02/09/toyota-akio-toyoda-comeback/?section=magazines_fortune

Toyota 's plans for 2012

According to reports, Toyota likely to increase production targets to 8.65 million vehicles in 2012.

The previous record was 8.53 million in 2007.

This is expected to be over 20% above current year, when production was severely hampered by earthquake, tsunami in Japan and the floods in Thailand.

Let us hope 2012 will be a disaster free year !

Toyota Sequoia TV Commercial Campaign launched on social media

Toyota is going techie, for sure....
The brand needs all channels in their efforts to rub-off the negative impact of PR fiasco !

But why ad in Dubai ?!  :)


http://www.ameinfo.com/270738.html

Lexus to lose its 11-year luxury top spot in US target=

Lexus to lose its 11-year luxury top spot in US target=

Lexus' loss may be gain for BMW & others...

TOYOTA to stay on in Japan

Toyota plan to continue to manufacture cars at Japan, in spite of the devastation & disruption to production. It may take a long time to get things back on track, or 'assembly line/just in time' ! Even the rising input costs or shortage of power or even unfavorable rate of Yen will not make them change them to move production out of their country. Their own CFO says, '...current environment makes it very, very difficult' !

I wonder... !

• Toyota is placing their country above the interests of the shareholders. Is it fair ? Also, they want to create jobs in Japan, in these bad times... Very patriotic..!
• May be they want to ensure they produce in Japan to ensure quality, esp in view of their recent recalls?? They may still pull off on cost-front with better inventory .... can it be 'better', as they are already very good ?? 
• Higher input cost may mean the end-customer may not be getting the 'best' price...
• Other key players, Nissan & Honda, seem to be making more 'prudent' business decisions..

As a global brand, should they not be focussing on giving the best quality, at best price and creating jobs where they can ensure same ? 

These are the questions a customer will have... not in Japan, but in other key markets, including Middle East, where they enjoy dominant market share... 

 

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Toyota halts sales of some vehicles due to pedals - MarketWatch

Is Toyota losing the innovation edge or ignoring the quality/Kaizen aspect of the processes ?

From a customer-perspective, Toyota is synonymous with quality.

The Korean auto makers, Kia and Hyundai, are definitely eating into Toyota's market share. Not because of quality, but the perception of 'value for money'.

Is Toyota on the third stage of 'Five Stages of Decline' by Jim Collins in Built to Last ?

Toyota halts sales of some vehicles due to pedals - MarketWatch

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Toyota's hybrid Prius faces US Probe over brakes

Acc to reports, Toyota is facing a big challenge.
Its key brand, third generation 2010 hybrid Prius has a brake-problem: ' may malfunction unexpectedly' !

We are living in tough times... esp for auto makers.

No.1/market leader, third generation, one of high profile product... and most important, hybrid... when world is moving slowly, but surely in GO GREEN direction !

We should see minimum or nil 'recalls', a six sigma type of quality !!!

Toyota car sales up 5pc in Oct

Toyota Motor Corp's global vehicle sales rose 5 percent in October to about 640,000 units, marking the first year-on-year increase in 15 months, the world's biggest automaker said on Wednesday. Last month, Toyota's sales in its biggest market, the United States, fell 3.5 percent, but grew 15 percent in Japan and 45 percent in China.
Toyota executives had said sales in the United States would likely start picking up around October due to easier comparisons from the year before, when sales began to tank after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
Toyota's shares were littled changed on the news, down 1.1 percent at 3,530 yen in late afternoon trade, in line with Tokyo's Topix index. - Reuters

PS: we will get to see quite a few such improvements, as the numbers had hit the lower levels in the last quarter of 2008 onwards...

Toyota Fortuner

Toyota is planning to launch this model in India, shortly.

I wonder why ? It is one of the rare Toyota models, which has failed to catch the imagination, esp in Middle East (ME),!

Toyota entered India thru Qualis. It was a great vehicle, no doubt. But, the entry could have been with a better vehicle.

Innova was a good car. But, like qualis, the brand has been hijacked by the taxi/tour operators. Camry is a luxury car in Indian market, but a popular limousine in ME. In spite of big number of Camry sold in ME, this model suffers from the tag of being a taxi!

But, the plan to launch Fortuner is surprising! The vehicle can not boast of the legendary Toyota pedigree in terms of style as well as performance. The model may still succeed, but why the world no. 1 car brand is being quite negative about the Indian auto market/car buyer, which surely will become one of biggest soon...
A RAV4 would have been a lot better proposition. Lastly, if high tax structure is a constraint, Toyota need to find ways to make better offerings to the India buyer. That is Car Innovation



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