Posted on 08/01/2006 5:10:40 PM PDT by SmoothTalker
DETROIT - Amid steep gas prices, Toyota Motor Corp. rode its reputation for fuel-efficient cars to a double-digit sales increase in July and outsold Ford in the U.S. for the first month ever. Honda Motor Co. also reported robust sales.
" At Ford, sales of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles fell 35.2 percent. Truck sales tumbled 44.8 percent, while cars slipped 6.7 percent. Sales of F-Series pickup trucks, long the country's best-selling vehicle and the company's most important vehicle, shot down 45.6 percent."
" Toyota's sales, meanwhile, soared 11.7 percent, with cars jumping 19.8 percent and trucks up 1.3 percent. The company outsold Ford by more than 17,000 vehicles."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Oh my. They must be price gouging. (See any XOM thread.)
Can't imagine why trucks that get 11 mpg aren't selling.
It's all about quality! (And Ford/Gm/D-C just don't have it.)
My niece is picking up a brand-new 2007 Toyota Scion coupe as we speak.
I begged her to buy Toyota. She'll have that car for 20 years.
DC does have it to some degree, but the domestically-designed GMs sure don't.
Ford tends to be hit and miss, but unlike GM, they don't seem to build anything embarassing any more.
One thing I'm looking at is Delphi, and what looks to be their using the Pension account to fund their continuing operational deficit - if I'm not mistaken, GM is on the hook for the pensions of Delphi workers (as Delphi was spun off from GM).
To wit, in the Monthly Operating Reports for May and June of this year, an increase of $1.6B was recorded against Pension Obligations (carried under "Liabilities Subject to Compromise" in the Balance Sheet), whereas $1.6B from the "Pension and other postretirement benefit expenses" was used to partially offset the $-1.8B net loss in the June Statement of Cash Flows.
If my admittedly facile understanding of this issue is correct, then decreased sales at GM aren't the only thing the General has to be worrying about.
(Anybody?)
But they aren't standing still. They are getting better and better at a rapid pace and now they have turned their attention to trucks and SUVs - up to now the only real bright spot in Detroit.
Even more omininously (from the viewpoint of Detroit), the Japanese Big Three have moved onto American turf, building U.S. factories, putting Americans (in mostly red states) to work and blurring the lines between "American cars" and "imports." And they have no UAW to worry about!
What is more American? A Ford made mostly in Mexico and assembled by union workers in Detroit who vote the "straight Democratic ticket" because their pinky-ringed bosses tell them to? Or a Nissan made in Tennessee by non-union workers, most of which go to church on Sundays, vote Republican and aren't afraid to fly the American flag on their front lawns?
What's worse for the Detroit Big 3, who continue to operate in some weird 1968 time warp, is that even once laughed at nameplates like Hyundai and Subaru are now kicking Detroit butt in carmaking. The ways things are going, Ford will soon be replacing Yugo as the butt of car jokes.
Well said!
Hear, hear. You absolutely nailed it. I still have my (last) Ford I bought new 11 years ago but once it's done, so am I with Ford, GM, etc. This car has been a POS but I keep it because it's paid for, looks good and still somewhat reliable. The next one will be a Toyota.
As I recall, GM was reported to have an unfunded pension liability in the neighborhood of 10-15 *billion* dollars as far back as the eighties. This during a time of robust sales. No one seemed to wonder then why none of the profits were being plowed into this snowballing liability.
"Can't imagine why trucks that get 11 mpg aren't selling."
When Toyota, Honda, or Nissan make a 4-door truck that can tow 15,000+ lbs and offer a 6-speed manual ... call me, until then their trucks are just fancy toys.
Scion and Prius are really selling. It's the high gas prices. Remember, the Pinto and the Vega were really hot tickets during the last one.
You won't have to wait too long. The new 07 Tundra is going to be offered in 5.6 V8 and 6.0 TD form.
Another interesting development is that Honda is now exporting cars made in the U.S. to China: Acura TL Becomes First U.S. Model Exported To China By Japanese Luxury Nameplate
Engine size is not the answer. The issue is the trucks frame and drive train (aka drive axles, differentials, suspensions etc)
Tundra is nothing but a beefier Tacoma with a V8 car engine. You can not compare a 3500 Dodge/Ford/Chevy Truck with an real 1 Ton Diff. in the rear(the size of a small engine) with that puny thing the almighty Tundra offers (that's a 4Runner rear axle).
Again call me when Toyota makes a truck that can move at 18,000 LBS GVW and tow in excess of 15,000 LBS at the same time.
...I'll second that....and I'll buy foreign until they get their act together......period.....
That would be found in Toyota's heavy truck division. Hino
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