Toyota Overtakes Ford

Toyota Overtakes Ford as #2

Toyota leapfrogged Ford as the world's No. 2 automaker in annual global vehicle sales in 2003. Now it has plans to overtake General Motors as the world's biggest auto seller -- but it's an aim that dare not speak its name.
Katsuaki Watanabe, the Japanese automaker's president, is aiming to sell 9.8 million vehicles globally in 2008, but he has reasons to feel antsy about his company' rapid growth. Toyota (nyse: TM - news - people ) will be concerned by a potential political and social backlash in the U.S. if the wheels fall off GM, not to mention the potential disruption of a good working relationship. Toyota already boasts research and development partnerships with GM and is working alongside the world's largest automaker on technology not yet ready for use in autos, such as fuel cells.
Yet the world's top two automakers trading places is something of an inevitability. Toyota sold 8.13 million vehicles worldwide in 2005 and is set to sell about 8.85 million vehicles this year, including sales from subsidiaries -- Hino Motors and Daihatsu Motor. GM sold 9.2 million vehicles worldwide in 2005.
Toyota has been snatching market share from its Big Three rivals like one of its souped-up Supras, but it has fuel-frugal cars like the Prius hybrid, Corolla compact and the midsize Camry--the best-selling model in the U.S. for eight of the last nine years--to thank for its success.
Watanabe has discovered that breathless expansion can be dangerous. The Japanese automaker's sterling reputation for manufacturing safe and reliable cars, the cornerstone of its success over the past decade, may have been compromised by a litany of recalls. In May 2005, Toyota issued a recall to replace faulty mechanical components that will end up involving around one million cars worldwide, over half of them in Japan. Later, the company announced the recall of some 400,000 sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) in the U.S. More recently, Toyota said that it will recall over 20,000 Crown sedans made in China because of defective rubber strips that seal the windshields.
However, recalls are rising across the board because carmakers are introducing more new vehicle models than at any time in the past decade, and almost all carmakers have accelerated new product programs and are seeking to enter almost every product segment to gain market shares.
"Toyota's reputation for mechanical reliability and component quality is second to none," Global Insight analyst Thomas Ryard said a few weeks ago. "It will take an awful lot to dent that reputation," he added.
Toyota has built the reputation of both its Lexus and Toyota products as much on quality as fuel efficiency, and the company is usually a star performer in both the JD Power and Consumer Reports car surveys. However, companies like GM are closing the defect gap.
Strong sales helped lift Toyota's profit by 39% for its fiscal first quarter ended June 30 to 371.5 billion yen ($3.1 billion). In contrast, GM lost $3.4 billion in the April-June period, mostly because of an anticipated charge for employee buyouts and other restructuring costs.
Source: Forbes Magazine.
http://www.forbes.com/2006/09/20/katsuaki-watanabe-toyota-face-cx_cn_0920autofacescan02.html

Go Toyota!!!!

this news doesnt surprise me and you really want to think why the United states don't buy ford and Gm the quality suck's let's face it some Unions are hurting the car Bussiness on those companies......