Filed under: Toyota, Earnings/Financials
Toyota voices its support for success of Detroit 3
According to Steve St. Angelo, a VP at Toyota North America, a healthy Detroit 3 is good for Toyota. While that may sound a bit odd or even patronizing, St. Angelo notes that the U.S. supplier base is working for both the Americans and Japanese. If one of their big clients like GM or Ford is in trouble, the effect to the supplier will in turn affect Toyota. What's more, the U.S. economy is closely tied in with the success of the automakers in Detroit and a depressed economy can only serve to hurt Toyota's U.S. sales numbers, a fact that is surely apparent when you glance at our By The Numbers posts over the past few months. Toyota's sales are still relatively strong, enough so that it has passed Ford to become America's second largest automaker and is currently knocking on GM's door (and giving them a spinning leg hook belly-to-back suplex) to take over the role as number one. So while a defeated member of the Detroit 3 may be bad for Toyota, a wounded one might be OK.
[Source: The Detroit News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
jgp 6:29PM (8/12/2008)
Chrysler is Admiral Ackbar?
Nice graphic.
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MJL 9:39PM (8/12/2008)
HAHA ITS A TRAP!!
azzo45 8:51AM (8/13/2008)
No Star Wars characters @ Chrysler... AB is talking about ex-Toyota exec. Jim Press
bubba 6:35PM (8/12/2008)
The marketing gurus at Nascar are rooting for the Detroit 3 right along with Toyota. I can imagine their discussions around the big table in Daytona as Nascar envisions a field made up of Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Hyundai, and Toyata. On the other hand I could go for it if the cars look like actual cars seen on the street.
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Brent 6:53PM (8/12/2008)
If all 3 of them failed... no one could afford to buy new cars, the economy wouldn't exist. :)
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Randy 10:00PM (8/12/2008)
That's right friend! Totally right!
The failure in our own Government to make certain that as a country, we have a future in the USA is a failure of our own as well! We do the voting. We stick to the two parties that we think are going to help us as citizens. It's unfortunate that the two party system has failed for too long. A non party system and individual ballot count system should be in place.
Heck it's our fault but yet it's not at the same time. We're all groomed to buy stuff, want stuff, need stuff and buy more stuff on credit so we can get rid of our old stuff, then we build a bigger house for all our stuff (kinda like Carlin said). Then we spend our lives paying to house our stuff in houses and storage only to realize when we're 65 years old that we wasted our lives protecting our stuff and our retirement plan was lost by a company that didn't make either by scandal or by our own Government failing to protect US business interests.
Then we are all left with very little time to do the due diligence on selecting the correct leader(s) for our country. I mean who can afford to take days off of work to picket in front of the state house or the white house! If we do, we'll miss our shows, be late for work, not spend time with our kids with the few moments we have.
So with this ladies and gentlemen, I state... we've been bread to believe we are free, when in fact, what are we free to do? Vote? For who? One of two people that have been preselected by two parties and the media (which is owned by foreign companies) and so called public opinion? That's not a choice! Especially when we can only vote A or B and actually make it count.
By voting A or B we are always in a state of unbalance, four years we move to the left, four years we move to the right. Always offsetting the last good deed. And then any good deed that needs votes from the other side (other party) gets amended with stipulations that make it so the opposing side gets to push one of their own agendas that have nothing to do with the matter at hand. Thus always causing imbalance, even when bipartisanship is at it's best.
I dream of a free America. One without party constraints, without "if you do for me I'll do for you" it should be "I'LL DO BECAUSE IT'S GOOD FOR THE PEOPLE"
Sigh... A Country Once Marveled will Soon Be Marbles
Thanks for reading! - Randy D
Randy 10:08PM (8/12/2008)
Amendment: I recognize other freedoms (religion, talking, arms, etc) but they are only free if we continue to have a country that can sustain itself. No money = no tax = no military = no defense = foreign occupation. Sounds nuts huh! It was only 50 years ago that Japan occupied US territory! Didn't know about that? Look it up!
Alaskan Historical Society
http://www.alaskahistoricalsociety.org/index.cfm?section=discover%20alaska&page=FAQs&viewpost=2&ContentId=12
Brandon 1:33AM (8/13/2008)
@Randy
I'll vote for you if you go for a president. Americans need great mind like you.
Torrent 1:39AM (8/13/2008)
@Randy: That was magical.
GhostDoggy 7:49AM (8/13/2008)
This condition isn't mutually exclusive to the personal automobile. Far more jobs in the past decade have left the American shores in the IT world than in the automotive world.
I about laughed (ok, balked) at Ford, the so called Tiffany of the Detroit 3, asking the federal government for a free handout to re-tool their factories to be able to stay competitive in the global market. It was like, "excuse me, sir, may I have some more?"
I like Chrysler's styling, but not their track record in making a reliable product. And now its a foreign car company, isn't it? And GM just is too big with too many iterations of the same idea that it dilutes its own creativeness.
But, as the saying goes, to be able to control your enemy you first have to know your enemy. I doubt the Detroit 3 can lay that claim.
And would it really be all bad if, as an example, Toyota and Chrysler became one?
reddy 11:01AM (8/13/2008)
@Randy
You are a frog in a well. Trust me america is in better hands than a completely free democratic country.
India has the worlds largest democracy with multi party system in place and its nuts out there.
A few educated minds shortlisting 2 choices to choose is better than a 'crowd of millions' going haywire.. you need not commit mistakes to learn from it, we already have examples to learn from other countries.
Such hue and cry is made for failure of detroit 3, US has placed itself in the most powerful economic position such that many other nations are dependent on it. I dont want to explain
A great speech with a confident face doesn't make you intelligent, it makes u another bush:D
azzo45 2:44PM (8/13/2008)
Ghost: 1 out of every 12 Americans' jobs are tied to the US auto companies... & 1 out of every 14 jobs are tied to suppliers (advertising, marketing, parts, etc) of the US automakers. If the Big 3 died this country would be in a world of $h*t.
You mention IT jobs... it might be bad, but not even close to the automotive sector. I know 3 people myself that have 6 figure IT jobs in the USA.
Randy 2:52PM (8/13/2008)
@Reddy,
We differ in opinion, strongly! If anything by default (two party systems) gives power to any number of limited entities (the two parties) then it's not a democracy.
It's either a democracy or not! And it's not! If you have limits, it's not freedom, if you don't have freedom, you don't live in a democracy! See how it loops back?
What the US has is a new breed of Government that is designed to give you the illusion of power! You have none! I have none! Or do we! :) Currently, since George W. Bush didn't take our freedom of speech as he has privacy, constitutional rights and national pride, we can still "gather" and discuss plans for change. The first step being voting everyone that has proven to be a servant other than civil, out, and replace them with people that are for the people.
I actually think the process of voting for president is amusing. We get a bunch of folks that tell us what they'll do if elected President from two parties. What other job in the country or world allows you do to that?
How about this: Maybe you'll agree on this one! Why not post a job advertisement of sort that outlines what WE want and what WE need and on national television, interview the applicants (not candidates), then review the interviews and compare the current dialog (BS) with their historic voting practices and work ethic and viola, we can do 10 to 20 interviews and find the best candidate.
Randy D for President "Dial 1-800-555-PRES"
©2008 Randy D (for a tv show :)
John 7:14PM (8/12/2008)
That a laugh!! They been cutting the domestic throats for decades with unfair trade practices and now they support them? Read how they got where they're at today and it should make you angry.
http://www.uwsa.com/issues/trade/japanyes.html
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Jason 6:57PM (8/12/2008)
Please tell me you're not taking advice from a union-owned debt consolidation website. First they rape you on union dues so you can be lazy and keep your job, and now they're raping you by "consolidating" your debt and paying them interest on what you already owe because you spent more money than you had.
You can take advice from them all you want... but if you're visiting that site, I don't think you're in a position to give anyone advice... especially financial advice.
Sasha 7:05PM (8/12/2008)
Where do you see that this is union owned? It's a financial company...
The Luigiian 7:22PM (8/12/2008)
"Japan is in a kind of economic war against us [Yen! p31]. Their objective is for them to win and for us to lose. Through the use of cartels, price fixing, government-corporate 'anti-foreigner' tactics as well as adversarial trade and predation strategies, Japan is greatly weakening much of America's strategic industries, standard of living and national security."
This is exactly what China does.
If Japan thinks it can win an economic war with China, it's totally screwed.
As soon as companies like Chery fix their reliability and quality issues (and mark my words, they will--China is huge and incredibly powerful, with lots of engineers and an extremely cheap workforce) it will kill Toyota. Americans will begin buying their cars in droves, leaving Toyota, Honda and Nissan in the dust.
Any way you look at it, Japan will lose the economic war it started, either to China (likely) or India (likely). What will happen to America will depend on America's ability to mind its own business. However, I think America is more likely to win an economic war with China than Japan does. The United States has a higher population and more natural resources. American workers may be paid much less than they currently are to fight China, but America has a better chance of economic survival than Japan.
knifetramp 7:39PM (8/12/2008)
Jason, you think with your wallet and fail to see the big picture. Unfortunately you have a lot of company. The US way of life is doomed and idiots like you are at the root of it.
Temple 8:04PM (8/12/2008)
Its pretty sad that we've come to rely on FUD articles to explain why the Big 3 are failing, and the reason why Toyota are selling well in the US.
The fact is, regardless of what blame you put on unfair trading practices, it has little to do with the reason Americans aren't buying American cars. Quite simply, its the fact that the Big 3 haven't invested in fuel efficient cars and relied only on SUVs and light-trucks while gas prices were low, now that the economy has sunk, and oil prices have risen, the lack of investment in passenger cars have caught up with them. Add to fact that there are high labor costs and union contracts that don't allow the Big 3 to quickly change production between plants to products that the market demands.
Toyota has a dramatic decrease in sales and profits this year just like the Big 3; the difference is that they have very large selection small economical cars to fall back on.
There comes a time when people need to take blame for their own mistakes instead of blaming others and making excuses for their own misfortunes.
gmoney706 12:45AM (8/13/2008)
"As soon as companies like Chery fix their reliability and quality issues (and mark my words, they will..."
We have been hearing this for decades. Its getting old. Real old. Its not really a US/Japan issue, its a quality/reliability issue. If the Big 3 could ever get rid of the unions so they can start putting together some quality cars, people will start buying them. Until then, their death is likely.
People need to stop pointing at the Japanese for unfair this and BS that. They make a better product. People buy the better product. Market forces, econ 101.