#4559413 - 03/02/10 05:24 PM
Toyota takes the GM way out (again)
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NOT spotch...
Post Master Supreme
Registered: 07/25/00
Posts: 57253
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So after putting recalls off as long as possible, and then finally doing one with what appears to be a half-assed solution, Toyota 'fixes' its problem by offering 0% financing and incentives.
It seems like Toyota is compressing the last 30 years of GM history into a 3-4~ year span here... (fuck up, try to cover it with deep discounts, ruin resale even further in the process)
I wonder if this is wise.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/business/03auto.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
March 3, 2010
Ford Tops Sales in February as Recall Slows Toyota
By NICK BUNKLEY
Toyota Motor said on Tuesday that its sales in the United States fell 9 percent in February, in contrast to big gains by its rivals, and the automaker rolled out aggressive new incentives aimed at luring back customers scared off by its recalls.
The deals, including no-interest financing for five years and low lease rates on eight models, “are unprecedented in the history of Toyota,” said Robert S. Carter, general manager of the Toyota division. The carmaker is also giving previous owners who buy a new Toyota up to two years of free scheduled maintenance “as a thank-you to our customers for sticking with us,” Mr. Carter said.
Sales of the Toyota Camry midsize sedan, one of the primary models affected, were down 20 percent. But the overall decline for Toyota was smaller than many analysts had projected. Toyota estimated that it lost about 18,000 sales because of the recalls but suggested that many of those shoppers would have been first-time buyers and that past customers did not defect in large numbers.
The biggest beneficiary might have been the Ford Motor Company, which surged ahead of General Motors with a 43 percent sales increase, making Ford the country’s top-selling automaker for the month.
Ford outsold G.M. by 334 vehicles, which is roughly the number its Mercury brand sells each day. In 2009, G.M. outsold Ford by an average of nearly 33,000 vehicles every month.
How many of February’s sales were to people who might have otherwise bought a Toyota is unclear, said Ken Czubay, Ford’s vice president for United States marketing, sales and service.
“Frankly, our studies show that many of the Toyota buyers were still undecided as to what they were going to do,” Mr. Czubay said, indicating that Ford and other Toyota rivals might still have a chance to attract those shoppers.
G.M.’s sales rose 12 percent from the month a year ago but 32 percent for the four brands the company is keeping: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC. Nonetheless it slipped behind Ford, which reported a 54 percent increase in passenger car sales.
Chrysler said sales were flat from February a year ago. Sales were up 38 percent at Subaru, 29 percent at Nissan, 14 percent at BMW, 9 percent at Kia and 8 percent at Mercedes.
So far this year, Ford’s sales are up 34 percent, compared to 13 percent for G.M. Toyota’s sales are down 9 percent in 2010.
Separately, G.M. announced a shakeup in the management of its North American operations, the latest in a series of executive shuffles since Edward E. Whitacre Jr. became chief executive last year. Among the changes is the separation of the marketing and sales organizations.
Susan Docherty, previously vice president for both sales and marketing in the United States, will handle marketing alone. Chevrolet and Cadillac will have new sales leaders reporting directly to Mark Reuss, president of G.M. North America. The head of Buick and GMC will also report directly to Mr. Reuss, as will a new vice president for United States sales operations, Steve Carlisle, who was running G.M. operations in southeast Asia. Individual brands no longer have general managers, as they had for almost a century.
Mr. Reuss, speaking on a conference call, acknowledged the repeated shakeups but said these changes were necessary to streamline the organization. “I’ve seen the movie too many times where the structure or the people feel wrong and we do nothing about it,” Mr. Reuss said. “Doing that now would be awful. It would be me not doing my job.”
Over all, automakers said industry sales were higher than a year ago, but some had difficulties taking full advantage of a downturn in Toyota sales, because winter storms last month kept consumers away from showrooms across much of the country. G.M. said its sales were down more than 20 percent in the snowy Northeast but up 71 percent in the West.
“It took our dealers a bit of time to get that snow off there and get customers back into the showrooms,” Ms. Docherty said on a conference call with analysts and reporters.
Still, G.M.’s chief market analyst, Michael C. DiGiovanni, said the company “got our fair share of Toyota sales,” without elaborating.
Ford said it planned to build 595,000 vehicles in the second quarter, 32 percent more than a year ago. G.M. said it was no longer publicly releasing production forecasts.
Toyota, whose executives are testifying Tuesday to a Senate panel examining the company’s recalls, is expected to announce new incentives aimed at drawing shoppers back to its dealerships. Toyota has recalled more than eight million vehicles — six million in the United States — to fix problems with the accelerator pedal or, in the case of its Prius and other hybrid cars, the braking system.
A month ago, Toyota had to temporarily stop selling and building eight models including the Camry and Corolla, which were the top-selling sedans in the country. Production has resumed, and dealers can again sell the affected models after repairing their pedal.
But some consumers have become hesitant to buy Toyotas as questions remain about whether the recall repairs will solve problems with unintended acceleration and about how quickly the company reacted to the problem. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating the timeliness of Toyota’s recalls.
Meanwhile, other automakers are getting a rare opportunity to take a bite out of Toyota’s famously loyal customer base. G.M., Ford and Chrysler have been offering discounts of up to $1,000 to buyers who trade in a Toyota vehicle.
The Korean automaker Hyundai, which offered similar discounts when the recalls first were announced, also has gained sales as a result of Toyota’s woes, as has another Japanese company, Honda, whose executives have described overt efforts to poach Toyota customers as “predatory.”
Over all, sales were projected to be higher than a year ago, but analysts said extended periods of bad car-shopping weather along the East Coast and in the Midwest slowed the industry’s recent upward trend. G.M. issued a recall of its own on Monday, saying it needed to replace a motor in the power-steering systems of 1.3 million compact cars. The recall covers the 2005-10 Chevrolet Cobalt and 2007 -10 Pontiac G5, along with similar models sold in Canada and Mexico.
The safety agency opened an investigation of the cars’ power steering in January after receiving more than 1,100 complaints, including reports of 14 crashes and one injury. But the new recall, while large, is unlikely to hurt G.M. the way Toyota has been damaged by its recalls, in part because G.M. says the cars can be safely controlled and the problem has not resulted in any serious injuries or deaths.
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#4560182 - 03/02/10 09:53 PM
Re: Toyota takes the GM way out (again)
[Re: danl]
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progressi
Post Master Sr
Registered: 06/01/01
Posts: 9134
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I trust Ronnie, not reason not to. I also trust Obama, with those big ears of his I know he can hear me and he listens.
Ahahahah,Spotch's gonna get you for that! *Cue Freddy Krueger remake music*
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#4560269 - 03/02/10 10:40 PM
Re: Toyota takes the GM way out (again)
[Re: NOHC]
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scootergeek
Post Master Supreme
Registered: 07/24/00
Posts: 46248
Loc: East of St. Louis
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I'd just like to say that in no way whatsoever, will I become interested in the Camry, or any of it's offspring for ANY of the foreseeable future.
And I'd just like to say that in no way whatsoever have I ever been interested in the Camry, or any of it's offspring.
The only sedan Toyota has ever made that is even vaguely interesting to me is the mid-70's Corona. I had a boss who had one and made me drive it on errands, and I dug it.
cheers,
scott
_________________________
Still pissy after all these years...
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#4582125 - 03/10/10 05:21 PM
Re: Toyota takes the GM way out (again)
[Re: allan r]
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Manok
Post Master Sr
Registered: 07/20/03
Posts: 8272
Loc: Virginia
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big beige on the defensive. Makes for good news, but I can't help but wonder if Toyata will leave the US after this fiasco.
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