Autoblog

Toyota reclaims global sales crown, GM and VW not far behind

Zach Bowman — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 10:15:00 EST

TheDetroitBureau.com reports Toyota has retaken the global sales crown. The Japanese automaker turned out 9.75 million vehicles last year, putting it just ahead of General Motors, with 9.29 million vehicles. Volkswagen, meanwhile, filled out the podium by building 9.1 million units in 2012.

Still, Toyota numbers fell just below projections the automaker made earlier in the year, due largely to a fierce territorial dispute between Japan and China that has seen mainland buyers shun Japanese goods. But the news marks a substantial comeback for Toyota. The company fell to third place in the global production race in 2011 after tragic earthquake and tsunami caused several plant closures.

In Japan, Toyota enjoyed a sales increase of 35 percent over the previous year, while the company's worldwide sales jumped by 23 percent thanks in part to new additions to the Prius line. The automaker is forecasting yet another increase for 2013, with the company projecting to reach 9.91 million units this year. Neither Volkswagen nor GM have released their own projections just yet.

Toyota reclaims global sales crown, GM and VW not far behind originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 28 Jan 2013 10:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toyota, Nissan, Honda to assist in $2.55B bailout of chipmaker Renesas with Japanese gov.

Zach Bowman — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 09:59:00 EST

Filed under: Japan, Plants/Manufacturing, Honda, Nissan, Toyota, Earnings/Financials

According to a Reuters report, the Japanese government and several of the country's largest manufacturers are joining forces to rescue troubled electronics manufacturer Renesas Electronics. Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Panasonic, Canon and Denso are set to contribute a combined $637.9 million to a $2.55 billion deal that will see the group gain control of the company. Robert Bosch GmbH is also considering investing in the electronics manufacturer.

Why are so many varied corporations interested in Renesas' future? The company is the world's leading supplier of microcontroller chips. Even so, the strengthening yen and heavy competition from South Korea's Samsung Electronics Company has seen Renesas suffer through five years of financial losses. As a result, the company has laid off 12 percent of its workers and currently has plans to either sell or consolidate more than half of its domestic manufacturing facilities.

Toyota, Nissan, Honda to assist in $2.55B bailout of chipmaker Renesas with Japanese gov. originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 15 Oct 2012 09:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Spy Shots: Future Toyotas snapped while risking life and limb

John Neff — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 16:57:00 EST

Filed under: Spy Photos, Hybrid, Toyota

Every so often we hear a tale of an engineer driving a development mule in public who just goes nuts. Most of the time it's triggered by a photographer taking pictures of the Top Secret car he's driving, at which point the engineer freaks and attempts to kill the offending snapper via vehicular homicide. It happened to our buddy Chris Doane last summer when a Ford engineer tried to flatten him with an F-250 mule. This time a group of Toyota engineers driving an IS 350 chase vehicle, RX hybrid development mule and an unidentified car covered entirely in camo (next-gen Prius?) reportedly began messing with some guys from GTChannel.com who were taking pics of the cars on their camera phone.

As far as we know, taking a picture of a vehicle that's driving around on public roads is not illegal, but legality aside, attempting to cause an accident is not an appropriate and measured response. Reading the account on GTChannel.com seriously makes our blood boil, since this cat and mouse game we call spy photography is something we all enjoy that ultimately helps automakers more than it hurts. Any driver acting this way on behalf of an automaker should be fired on the spot, and if this behaviour is actually sanctioned by automakers, then these companies need to reevaluate their priorities pronto. Certainly the public exposure of a development mule is not more important than the life and well being of a human being. Right?

Click the Read link to view the rest of GTChannel.com's pics.

[Source: GT Channel]

Spy Shots: Future Toyotas snapped while risking life and limb originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 26 Apr 2007 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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