Whoa, Doggies - Toyota reckons growth will slow
Toyota is quite conscious of its target status, which has been amplified by their topping everyone else in the first quarter of 2007. Sales goals were consistently surpassed as all of the company's offerings got a boost from the Prius phenomenon. Toyota's Jim Press is predicting that they're about to lose their front-runner advantage as the competition comes on line with their own fuel efficient wares. Countless mentions of the Prius as a panacea to high fuel prices continue to abound in newscasts, magazine articles, and utter forth from the obviously well-informed and trustworthy mouths of broadcast personalities, lending a marketing boost as the news looks for things to cover. The Hybrid Synergy Drive technology has spread to other 'Yotas, so there's now hybrid Lexi and Camrys to go along with the billboard-like statement of green that is the Prius.
With the vast success of Toyota's technology and strategy, other manufacturers have been toiling away. While there's no prediction of when the numbers will slow their upward climb, they can't continue indefinitely. It will be interesting to watch what happens as we go into the driving season, with fuel prices forecast to go much higher. There's no denying the high fuel efficency of the Prius -- even if it doesn't fully measure up to its EPA numbers -- and if fuel nudges $4 per gallon, we predict that Hybrid sales of all stripes will jump again. The leap in sales would benefit all automakers with Hybrids on offer, a growing number. Keeping dealer organizations happy will keep sales rolling as well. By holding the number of dealerships steady, Toyota is helping its store owners maximize profits. Happy salespeople are likely far more effective at moving wares, and by making healthy profits, customers can be coddled better. It's the little things, and Toyota sweats the details obsessively. So, while Toyota's making noises that they expect things to cool off, we're not expecting that prediction to come true any time soon.
[Source: Automotive News - Sub Req.]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Mike 10:25AM (5/01/2007)
another toyota PR puff piece, whitewashed for us mindless gnomes here that read autoblog......
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mr friggles 10:31AM (5/01/2007)
Hopefully the dinosaur automakers who refuse to front-line hybrids, and instead choose bigger, uglier SUVs will be bankrupted. Apparently the US automakers are so constipated with oil interests that they will continue to bloat the market with soon-to-be-obsolete low fuel vehicles, until buyers don't buy them because they can't afford the all the gas they would burn.
Seriously, it doesn't take a genius to see that if fuel economy is your top priority then you will sell like crazy. But who better to protect those oil execs wallets than Detroit, right?
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Matt 10:31AM (5/01/2007)
The plural for Lexus is Lexuses, not Lexi. It's a proper noun ending in 's' and as such you must ad an 'es' to the end. Grammar 101.
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bmoredlj 10:31AM (5/01/2007)
Most people are in agreement that Toyota's reign at the top will be a short one. It's good that it happened now instead of Q4, while gas is still under $3 and it should serve as a kick in the pants of the competition to develop more appealing products, raising quality industry-wide. Ideally.
It may well take $4 gas to significantly raise the sales of "stealth" hybrids like the Accord and Camry. Its "powerful" hybrids (i.e. the Lexi) are pointless gimmicks, since people who can afford Lexi will be paying $4 for premium gas much sooner than the plebs.
Let's get real here. Hybrids gradually recoup their higher price in fuel savings (IF driven correctly), thus ever-so-slightly lowering demand. That's it.
There's nothing "green" about a Hybrid power system loaded with batteries and computers. A true "green" car would be manufactured from "green", or biodegradable, components, which the Prius most certainly is not. Duh.
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bmoredlj 10:37AM (5/01/2007)
I just like the term "Lexi."
Some people say "NEW-kya-lur" instead of "New-CLEAR"; or "eye-KAY-uh" instead of "eye-KEE-uh", funguses instead of fungi. To each his own.
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The Other Bob 10:37AM (5/01/2007)
Hopefully "mr friggles" walks to work, otherwise he is a big fat hypocrit.
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Mike 10:40AM (5/01/2007)
figgles, you are an idiot.
Where is the hybrid at Mazda, mercedes, alfa, ferrari, porsche, bugatti, subaru, mitsubishi, suzuki, hyundai, kia, etc....
DCX hybrid: Durango/aspen dual mode system
bmw: dual mode, regenerative braking, working on
steam
GM: silverado/sierra, tahoe/yukon, vue, aura
ford: escape, soon to be fusion
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dani 10:41AM (5/01/2007)
Why doesn't Autoblog mention that the "right-now" solution for the environment is not hybrids or hydrogen.
It's a change in mentallity, where people start buying 1.4 - 2.0 liter cars. The problem is the american mentality of big engines. If you wan't performance or you like power, choose a big engine, but manufacturers are literally forcing people to buy cars with big engines, even when the don't really care what's under the hood.
There you go, you just cut 30-50% of americas oil consumption.
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AZMike 10:51AM (5/01/2007)
mr friggles,
I'm old enough to remember when Kool-Aid took two cups of sugar to make. how many cups (and who knows what else) are in the Toyoda Kool-Aid you've obviously been drinking?
a little reality check here: there is now a $2,000 rebate on the Prius. could the bloom possibly be off of this turd-blossom? do you think that perhaps some folks have gotten smart and realized there is not much economy in a teeny $30,000 car? do you think that enormous complexity and grossly incorrect mileage figures could have anything to do with it?
now correct me if I'm wrong here; is the Toyoda you're so glowing speaking of the same Toyoda that builds the Tundra and Sequoia? could Toyoda be suffering from that same constipation?
the real answer here is that automakers build WHAT THE PUBLIC WANTS TO BUY. if you don't want an SUV or pickup, then don't buy one. I promise not to critisize the streamers on your bicycle.
AZMike
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Bryan 10:53AM (5/01/2007)
Toyota will slow. Especially after all the customers they screwed over in the sludge situation deflect to other automakers. That and the zombies start waking up!
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Jon 10:59AM (5/01/2007)
bmoredlj:
Obviously you aren't going to get many biodegradable cars, duh. But you are mistaken in thinking that "Green" is not synonymous with "Biodegradable."
According to Webster, the relevant definition of "Green" is:
10 a often capitalized : relating to or being an environmentalist political movement b : concerned with or supporting environmentalism c : tending to preserve environmental quality (as by being recyclable, biodegradable, or nonpolluting)
I think Prius admirably meets this definition just by attaining near-zero emissions. But here's a little blurb from Toyota Europe that explains more:
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Greener manufacturing in the Toyota Prius
The manufacturing process for the new Prius model has been organized to reduce the amount of energy needed for building the car, so as to cut the CO2 emissions during manufacturing by 31% compared to the previous Prius production plant.
Special Eco-plastic made from plants to provide floor mats is used. This further reduces CO2 emissions during manufacturing.
The batteries are smaller and more efficient resulting in 33% less CO2 emissions durning manufacturing when compared to the previous generation Prius.
The Toyota Prius is 90% recyclable!
/////
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Mike 11:00AM (5/01/2007)
some good reading:
"The United States’ leading hurricane forecaster said Friday that global ocean currents, not human-produced carbon dioxide, are responsible for global warming, and the Earth may begin to cool on its own in five to 10 years.
William Gray, a Colorado State University researcher best known for his annual forecasts of hurricanes along the U.S. Atlantic coast, also said increasing levels of carbon dioxide will not produce more or stronger hurricanes.
He said that over the past 40 years the number of major hurricanes making landfall on the U.S. Atlantic coast has declined compared with the previous 40 years, even though carbon dioxide levels have risen.
Gray, speaking to a group of Republican state lawmakers, had harsh words for researchers and politicians who say man-made greenhouse gases are responsible for global warming.
“They’re blaming it all on humans, which is crazy,” he said. “We’re not the cause of it.”
Gray, 77, has long criticized the theory that heat-trapping gases generated by human activity are causing the world to warm.
In an interview with The Associated Press earlier this month, he described former U.S. vice president and 2000 Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore “a gross alarmist” for making the Oscar-winning documentary that helped focus media attention on global warming.
On Friday, Gray complained that politics and research into global warming have created “almost an industry” that has unfairly frightened the public and overwhelmed dissenting voices.
In this market, consultants or companies estimate a person’s or company’s output of greenhouse gases. Then, these businesses sell “offsets,” which pay for projects elsewhere that void or sop up an equal amount of emissions — say, by planting trees or, as one new company proposes, fertilizing the ocean so algae can pull the gas out of the air. Recent counts by Business Week magazine and several environmental watchdog groups tally the trade in offsets at more than $100 million a year and growing blazingly fast.
Toby Nicol, easyJet’s communications director, said the company had been shocked by how much money carbon offsetting firms wanted for their service. “We have been quite surprised at the percentage that the offsetting companies would like to take out of the scheme for administration costs. Between 25% and 30% of every pound put in by consumers would go into administrating the company and that was simply too expensive,” he said.
“There are a lot of people who have dived into the market who are desperate to make a margin from it. There are too many snake oil salesmen in the business.”
Mars is being hit by rapid climate change and it is happening so fast that the red planet could lose its southern ice cap, writes Jonathan Leake.
Scientists from Nasa say that Mars has warmed by about 0.5C since the 1970s. This is similar to the warming experienced on Earth over approximately the same period.
Since there is no known life on Mars it suggests rapid changes in planetary climates could be natural phenomena.
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Jon 11:01AM (5/01/2007)
Oops, make that:
But you are mistaken in thinking that "Green" IS synonymous with "Biodegradable."
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Brooksie 11:33AM (5/01/2007)
#12:
What's your point? The earth is getting warmer and the fallout that goes with climate change is coming.
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Mike 11:46AM (5/01/2007)
only if 'fallout' is bunk science treated as gospel, pyramid schemes totaling hundreds of millions of dollars, bureaucratically created and politically guided science, etc...
When will people open their eyes and realize that there is ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE that any change is caused by humans. All available evidence actually point to the fact that humans have no impact on climate change.
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Brooksie 11:49AM (5/01/2007)
The cause doesn't matter. The change is happening.
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Mike 11:52AM (5/01/2007)
I think we should start looking into a car engine that runs on cognitive dissonance….
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Bob-omb 12:02PM (5/01/2007)
AZMike strikes again. Yawn. Calling the Prius a $30,000 econocar is like calling a Cobalt a $22,000 econocar. They're only that much when you equip them that way. You should go into politics.
Regardless, does anyone here *honestly* think that Toyota's sales have all been because of a hybrid trickle-down effect? That makes no sense. Honda is right there in the hybrid game, too. So are other companies. My dad and all the other dads he knows didn't buy their first Toyota because of fuel economy -- they bought it because everyone else said that it was the most reliable car they had ever owned.
But naturally, I suppose that's more Kool Aid talk, huh, Mike. It's a good thing we have you here to set us straight. Keep wearing that "THE END IS NIGH" signboard. It's cute, really.
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Mike 11:58AM (5/01/2007)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070428170229.htm
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Mike 11:59AM (5/01/2007)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070428170229.htm
People need to open their eyes. All your priu'i will not change a single thing.
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