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autonews.com wrote:Toyota is ‘grasping for salvation' as losses continue, chief says
Founder's grandson says company is too big, distant from customers

Hans Greimel
UPDATED: 10/2/09 10:15 a.m. ET


TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda said his money-losing automaker is “grasping for salvation” as it struggles to return to profit.



The world's largest car company was once targeting annual sales of 10 million vehicles but now expects sales of 7.3 million this year, down from 8.97 million in 2008, Toyoda said today at a news conference here.

Citing the five stages of corporate decline outlined by Jim Collins, author of How the Mighty Fall, the Toyota chief warned that his company has slumped to stage four, which Collins calls “grasping for salvation.”

“We are grasping for salvation,” Toyoda said, adding that the company already has spiraled through the first three stages: (1) hubris born of success, (2) undisciplined pursuit of more and (3) denial of risk and peril. His self-admonitions echoed the apologies commonly made by Japanese executives who take responsibility for financial turmoil or corporate scandal.


Grim assessment

While Toyota is far from entering the fifth stage -- capitulation to irrelevance or death -- Toyoda's grim assessment was clearly meant to underscore the challenges he faces after only three months as president. They also seemed aimed at ensuring customers that he grasped the severity of the situation and was committed to reversing Toyota's malaise.

“Toyota has become too big and distant from its customers,” the grandson of the automaker's founder said as he prepares for a second-straight year of substantial financial and unit-sale decreases.

In the United States, Toyota's sales fell 13 percent in September from a year earlier as the market suffered a sharp letdown after the government-funded cash-for-clunkers program ran out. Total U.S. sales tumbled 23 percent. Toyota is down 28 percent for the year.

Separately, Toyoda called the current dollar-yen rate "very tough," saying the weak U.S. currency made it difficult to return to profit on an unconsolidated level.

"When you get to this level, it makes it difficult to return to profit on sales growth alone," he said.

Toyoda repeated Toyota's aim to return to profit at the parent level "as soon as possible," even as it expects global sales to fall 18 percent from 2008 to 7.34 million vehicles this year. That would leave about 30 percent of the company's production capacity unused.

Toyoda took the helm in June as the world's biggest automaker faced one of its biggest crises in history amid a global credit crunch and an industrywide sales slump that forced General Motors and Chrysler into bankruptcy.

For the financial year to March, Toyota has projected a consolidated operating loss of ¥750 billion ($8.4 billion), assuming a dollar rate of ¥92. It has forecast a parent-only operating loss of ¥600 billion.


Recall regret

Presenting a further challenge, Toyota said this week it would recall 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus models in the United States -- its largest-ever recall -- because of a risk that a loose floor mat could force down the accelerator. The problem is suspected of causing at least one crash that killed four people.

“We would like to pay our deepest condolences for the loss of four precious lives,” Toyoda said. But because an investigation into the problem is still under way, he said, he could offer no further details about plans to address the issue.

“Customers who chose Toyota and Lexus cars because those brands are safe and secure are now beset with anxiety. I regret and apologize for this development,” said Toyoda, who took office in June.

The Prius has helped fuel sales growth at Toyota especially in Japan, where the government is offering two sets of incentives to promote more fuel-efficient cars.

Toyoda said he would welcome an unlikely extension of Japan's cash-for-clunkers program beyond March, while adding it would not be prudent to keep depending on the government for help.

ProbeGT wrote:qualité à la baisse oui, fiabilité, pas sur.

Leurs produits ne sont plus intéressants, look banal, conduite endormante, fiabilité a la baisse et dispendieux a l'achat, aussi des vendeurs snobs.

Ils sont passés où les Corolla GT-S, Supra, Celica de ce monde ?

autonews.com wrote:“Toyota has become too big and distant from its customers”

autonews.com wrote:“Toyota has become too big and distant from its customers”

chiroky wrote:Voilà mon trip toyota s'est arrêté là, j'ai eu une supra 90 turbo pis j'ai trippé en sale sans compté que je lui ai fait subir des horreurs et elle a survécu... mais la vivacité toyota s'est éteint en même temps que la supra.

lemarin wrote:Ouais mais probe, récession comme tu voudras, des STi on en voit pas mal sur nos routes quand même....et c'Est un icône pour la marque. Là l'icône de Toyota c'est quoi: une Avalon ou une Sienna ?

ProbeGT wrote:

lemarin wrote:Ouais mais probe, récession comme tu voudras, des STi on en voit pas mal sur nos routes quand même....et c'Est un icône pour la marque. Là l'icône de Toyota c'est quoi: une Avalon ou une Sienna ?

L'icone de toyota c'est la fiabilité. Ca vaut plus que nimporte quelle STI ou EVO. Ils se basent la dessus et vendent grâce à ca.

Dans les pick-up et SUV ont peut pas dire qu'ils se forcent pas cependant.

autonews.com wrote:TOKYO MOTOR SHOW
Toyota goes sporty at Tokyo show

Hans Greimel
Automotive News
October 6, 2009 - 12:30 am ET

TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp. goes sporty at this month's Tokyo Motor Show, unveiling its vision for a sport coupe being jointly developed with Subaru.






The Toyota-badged car, dubbed the FT-86 Concept, is the spiritual successor to the AE86 sport coupe of the 1980s, which was based on the Corolla. Like its boxy predecessor, the FT-86 Concept is compact and lightweight and has a low center of gravity.

But the styling is modernized with a rounded, sleek silhouette.

The FT-86 is Toyota's concept for a sporty coupe being undertaken with Fuji Heavy Industries Inc., the company that manufactures Subaru vehicles. While it is fitted with a 2.0-liter boxer engine from Subaru, the overall design was created by Toyota's ED2 styling studio in France. Even the blue-red metallic paint was specially developed by Toyota.

“Sports cars have to be red, but we wanted a new red,” said chief engineer Tetsuya Tada. “So we came up with shoujyouhi red, the traditional red color of a Japanese monkey's” backside.

Toyota and Fuji Heavy plan to start producing a sporty car in late 2011.

Toyota will be responsible for most of the engineering. Fuji Heavy will supply the horizontally opposed engine and manufacture the car at a Subaru plant.


Fuji Heavy won't comment on whether the FT-86 Concept is that car or not; Subaru won't be displaying a sports car at the Oct. 24-Nov. 4 Tokyo show. But the car clearly underscores new President Akio Toyoda's push for more muscular, fun-to-drive models.

Tada said Toyota wants the FT-86's sticker price to be in the $20,000 range. “It won't sell if it's over 3 million yen ($30,000),” he said. “The price has to appeal to regular customers.”

The car seats four and has a front-engine, rear-drive layout. The boxer engine allows for a lower hood and gives the FT-86 a lower center of gravity. Key to the design was maximizing fuel efficiency by reducing weight and creating a compact design, Tada said.

Tada also said it gets a dedicated chassis, noting that “enthusiasts don't want a shared platform.”