Toyota expected to post first annual sales decline in 10 years
We knew the auto industry was in bad shape and it didn't take long to extend its poisoned-tipped tentacles into the world's automotive juggernaut. In August came news that the Japanese automaker had cut its sales forecast for 2008 from 10.4 million vehicles to 9.7 million. A Japanese newspaper, though, says it expects Toyota to only sell 8.3 million for the year. If true, it would be the company's first year over year sales decline in a decade.The Nikkei Daily (subscription required) doesn't back up its prediction with any sources, but we'll know how close to the truth they get come in January when Toyota announces official sales numbers.
[Source: Nikkei Daily via The Associated Press via Yahoo News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
TJ 1:36PM (10/22/2008)
Breaking news: water is wet. More at 12.
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P.V. 6:15PM (10/22/2008)
NICE
+1 -> infinity
Randy 12:38PM (10/23/2008)
Buy American!
Ford | Chevy | Lincoln | Cadillac | Hondahh ha ha just joking on the last one!
Kotse 1:42PM (10/22/2008)
Goliath also falls...
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tekd 4:41AM (10/24/2008)
Goliath? Toyota only very recently started selling this many cars. They're used to being the smaller company fighting against all odds.
More importantly, they don't actually have to depend on cranking out insane volumes to deal with huge fixed and legacy costs *cough* GM *cough*. So they can still ramp down a lot more easily than other companies can. The only thing limiting them is their commitment to not lay off permanent workers, but if it comes down to it their workers aren't UAW workers and Toyota could just axe workers off to maintain profitability even with 1999 sales figures.
They probably won't, since sales aren't that bad anyways-they only sold that many cars back in 2006 and Toyota still somehow managed to survive 2006, lol.
tekd 4:43AM (10/24/2008)
Goliath? Toyota only very recently started selling this many cars. They're used to being the smaller company fighting against all odds.
More importantly, they don't actually have to depend on cranking out insane volumes to deal with huge fixed and legacy costs *cough* GM *cough*. So they can still ramp down a lot more easily than other companies can. The only thing limiting them is their commitment to not lay off permanent workers, but if it comes down to it their workers aren't UAW workers and Toyota could just axe workers off to maintain profitability even with 1999 sales figures.
They probably won't, since sales aren't that bad anyways-they only sold that many cars back in 2006 and Toyota still somehow managed to survive 2006, lol.
JDMlover 1:41PM (10/22/2008)
so is everyone else...
Stop bashing Toyota AUTOBLOG!
EVERYONE is experiencing problems...gesh
im start to think autoblog is bias....and im not joking
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TJ 1:46PM (10/22/2008)
Irony: JDM Lover (yep, Japanese Domestic Market) accusing someone of bias....
JDMlover 1:49PM (10/22/2008)
that's what i like
it has nothing to do with being bias
They post the same stuff about the same car over and over....where others cars never get on here...like they are promoting certain...
TJ 2:03PM (10/22/2008)
See my first post about how this is a no brainer... for any manufacturer.
I was just pointing out the irony between your screen name and your complaint.
As for your rants about the ZR1, an Autoblog Search for ZR1 reveals fewer blog entries than a search for GTR. Game, Set, Match.
Stratojet 2:33PM (10/22/2008)
Bashing Toyota!
This is news to me. Saying that their sales declines is just a fact. How many times did Autoblog said that GM Chrysler and Ford sales were going down?
Some readers have a very sensible epiderm.
Big Rocket 5:12PM (10/22/2008)
@TJ: If you are just looking for ZR-1 posts, you are not looking at the big picture.
• Autoblog search, GT-R, yielded 5 posts for month of October so far, and 3 posts for the entire month of September.
• Autoblog search, Corvette, yielded 7 posts for month of October so far, and 10 posts for the entire month of September.
@JDMlover: If you don't like Corvette posts, there is a very simple solution. Skip them and don't read them. Same goes for the posts that criticize Toyota.
Shadooky 2:02PM (10/22/2008)
Good, horrible cars by a horrible company.
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Talisman 8:00PM (10/22/2008)
lol. Toyota's cars are hardly horrible. They are just boring and lack passion(generally speaking). But Toyota does Boring better than anyone else and that is what the general public likes.
Temple 5:11PM (10/22/2008)
This bitterness, while incredibly pathetic, is slightly understandable. With the big 3 drowning (largely due to their own mistakes), its easy to get some shaudenfreuder from others struggling.
Dane 9:09PM (10/22/2008)
is it a bad economy or are people getting more educated on their car choice???
nah, it is tough all over, they do make completely boring cars though and I hope they ship up or ship out..... The only thing that is remotely interesting is the Yaris, but it is still a tin can..... Like to see one of those (Yaris) on the road in 12 years... like any-other Toyota...
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Geeky1 2:37PM (10/22/2008)
Considering that their products represent the antithesis of all of the cars that a good number of the people here enjoy in a lot of respects, I can't say that I'm sorry to see it. It's wishful thinking to imagine that the automotive division of the company would disappear from the face of the planet, but the less of their products there are in the world, the better.
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Cardude 2:58PM (10/22/2008)
So what? A whole bunch of automakers are having a tough time these days, this is news why exactly? I agree with JDM lover. The Toyota hate on this board is lame. This won't stop Toyo. They are the world's strongest automaker right now, like it or not. The Camry is the #1 selling car in America 11 years now, like it or not. Yes, Toyota lacks sports cars right now and that annoys me, but they make other nice cars and trucks that THIS car enthusiast is proud to be a fan of and they also have TRD. Toyota rules the world haters, get over it. They earned that status by producing quality, well built, good looking and reliable cars.
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tekd 4:52AM (10/24/2008)
They probably don't even realize that Toyota hasn't even really begun their push into the Chinese market yet, whereas GM is now fighting to keep market share in China.
Toyota's China sales went up 30% this year, and are so far beating GM sales. Quite frankly they never tried very hard before-Toyota was being Toyota and slowly biding their time and figuring out how to best go after the Chinese market...but now they're probably going to go into full attack mode in China to boost their global sales. This will probably have to be their strategy for the next few years if they want to keep volume up, but when they're done fighting for market share I get the feeling that Toyota will vastly outsell GM in China. Right now if you go to Shanghai you won't even see any Toyotas around since it's such a GM town, but you should see the amount of Toyota ads around town trying to change that.
Anyways, this car market slowdown is only going to benefit Toyota since they'll be one of the few companies who still have money to do R&D, and when it all blows over the only thing that'll have changed is that Toyota will be even more competitive than they are right now, and hopefully have addressed any quality problems they've bumped into. Usually only the strongest players survive in tough markets, and Toyota is as strong as they get right now.
C.W. 3:08PM (10/22/2008)
GOOD
best damn news i've heard all day.
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