Toyota Expects First Operating Loss in 70 Years

[hammersley]

Crooks and Liars



Toyota Expects First Operating Loss in 70 Years

By Susie Madrak Monday Dec 22, 2008 4:40pm



So it isn't just poorly-made American cars that are feeling the pinch:



TOKYO — Toyota Motor will lose money in its core automaking business for the first time in 70 years this fiscal year, the company said Monday, in a sign of how the global economic crisis is hurting even the mightiest carmakers.



The Japanese auto giant, which has been neck and neck with General Motors to be the world’s largest vehicle-maker, said it still expects to eke out a narrow group net profit for the year, which ends March 31, 2009.



But the company, which just a few months ago appeared to be riding above the ills that have crippled Detroit, said it has seen plunging sales not only in North America but even in emerging markets, which initially seemed to be immune to the United States malaise.



“The change in the world economy is of a magnitude that comes once every hundred years,” Toyota’s president, Katsuaki Watanabe, told a press conference in Nagoya, Japan, near the company’s Toyota City headquarters. Sales last month dropped “far faster, wider and deeper than expected. ”

 

[AHarris]

So it isn't just poorly-made American cars that are feeling the pinch:

Most American cars are not poorly made. Not all foreign cars (and that includes some Nissans are Toyotas) are well made.

 

[hammersley]

I agree 100% BUT

Most American cars are not poorly made. Not all foreign cars (and that includes some Nissans are Toyotas) are well made.

The BS being sold is that American rigs don't "cut it" for a variety of reasons..... and all they have to do is do what Toyota does... well it's a lot more complicated than that!

 

[B.G. Smith]

Hmmmm? 70 years, that would go back to 1938, they didn't even have beer cans to make toys back then. bg

 

[AHarris]

The BS being sold is that American rigs don't "cut it" for a variety of reasons..... and all they have to do is do what Toyota does... well it's a lot more complicated than that!

Yea it is complicated. But Toyota doesn't build anything than can do what the Dodge, Chevy, and Ford trucks I've been driving for the last 20 years can do. Sometimes I wonder if Consumer Reports isn't getting cash under the table from Toyota and Honda.

Look at how low they rated the Chrysler Sebring (worst American car made) and it's sister Dodge Avenger. Bullcrap! I rented these cars recently (travel quite a bit) and also rented a Hyundai Sonata. The Sonata was ok, smooth with good power but the tin can sound when the doors shut and the rattles over the bumps were unmistakable.

The Sebring and Avenger, though, were good rental cars. Basic 4-cylinder fleet models... but... plenty of power, good fuel economy, good handling--every bit as good--if not better than the Hyundai Sonata. Also rented a 2008 Chevrolet Malibu and a 2007 Saturn Azura... they had the V-6s and were not only rocketships, but I was also impressed with the quality and confort of both of these cars.

My favorite rental car (if not one of my favorite cars ever) is the Dodge Charger sedan. Even with the base 2. 7L V-6, it has enough power, handles like a sports car, has lots of room, decent quality, and solid as a rock on the road. I would take one of these any day over a comparably equipped Toyota Camry at the same price except they are thousands less... so I can get as much car buying the Charger and have enough $$$ left over to get my son a 4-wheeler for his birthday or upgrade to the Hemi!

Sure the Big 3 have put out some losers. So has Nissan and Toyota. I know people who have had horror stories with their Nissan Titans, Toyota Tundras, and even some of their cars. None of them are perfect. It burns my butt that the media seems to be trying their best to de-glamorize American cars and sell the public that the only path to a owning a quality automobile means buying a rice burner.

The myth that American cars are globally inferior to foreign makes is media perpetuated BS that is unsupported by 25 years of driving a wide variety of foreign and domestic cars. Other than one bad experience with a Ford dealer service department years ago, I really can't complain about any of the American cars I've owned.

I'll take an American car any day! Why? Because I think they are equal to or better than the rice burners and offer a better value for my dollar!

 

[kenny61]

Hmmmm? 70 years, that would go back to 1938, they didn't even have beer cans to make toys back then. bg

I thought they didn't come around to the 70's but I guess we're both wrong



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