Toyota president feels 'sense of crisis' as profits tumble
 

Amazing how much these guys care about what they're doing. Back in my B school days, they said their compensation is no more than 7X the lowliest paid worker.....do the math.

We seem to take exception when a man makes 300 mil. annually here, but what about guys who make 1+ bil. in a year, did they really create value (hedge fund mgrs sorry if that's you, it's just food for thought). But closer to the car industry, I can think of a person who ruined a home center store, took a $75 mil. package, and went on to ruin Chrysler after that. Different way of looking at things....where it's not personal....

All of the money that Toyota paid out, several years ago, to settle the unintended-acceleration claims and retro-fit their cars in its aftermath probably also had an impact. Those who predicted it would hurt the company in the long run were (apparently) right.

Well perhaps damage to its reputation, which was short lived anyways. Those costs would have been incurred and expensed in the year that it happened already. The thing that hurt them was spending R&D on low volume products like the RC series, GSF, LC and going back into racing. Combined with declining sales of current models, factory expansions, TNGA and new engine R&D and roll outs, puts a strain on human and capital resources. So it is no surprise their profits are dropping. Oh higher incentive spending definitely doesnt help either.

Personally, I wonder about the "unintended acceleration." There was one incident in CA that was a complete hoax. When you're big, you've got a target on your back. I found out about this situation when I discovered 2 mat hooks missing in my LS430.

Riddle me this--how come when BMW contracts with that USA co. that advertises floor mats on the radio, and imho it is measured wrongly (maybe they used an auto as a template), nothing ever becomes of it? No class action, no lawsuits, and these are OEM branded mats. It always gets caught in the clutch.

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There was nothing wrong with the Toyota accelerator pedal software. Toyota yielded to the American lawyers when they should have fought back.

But in my view that's not what's happening to profits now. They have designed some butt-ugly auto front ends in recent years and the public is saying so with their dollars.

Water over the dam........it can be argued both ways.

Agreed. Apparently the people in the marketing and design departments think that to appeal to younger people, you have to make vehicle bodies look like Halloween masks LOL.

From what I am reading, I translate it like this:

Toyota has let their bread and butter platforms of the Camry go on for far too long. The Tundra is using an aging design. Flagship products like the LS, LX, Land Cruiser, are all using engines and platforms that date back to 2006-07. Add in their reluctance to update the Tacoma/Tundra properly and the terrible neglect of the Sequoia = people are not willing to pay more for their Toyota and upgraded Toyota in a Lexus.

Odd statement as according to TMC's own annual report, operating income only went down due to forex - had the yen stayed at the same levels as last year, their operating income would actually have gone up. Maybe it is a political statement to try to get the Bank of Japan to engage in further currency manipulation.

:confused: What does this have to do with anything? Unit sales were up, revenue was up, and income would have been up if not for a weak yen. They paid out those claims and did the recalls years ago, and the cost was a mere fraction of annual operating income.

All manufacturers are facing the same shock waves; new vehicle sales are at record highs with little room for growth. Also consider the fact that the fed is raising interest rates and requiring higher credit scores to get approval for a loan (many recent new buyers are defaulting.) So consider 20 manufacturers all fighting for a piece of the car sales pie. It's not a great outlook. Competition is at an all-time high.

That's assuming all of the cases are finally settled. It often takes years to get through the appeals-process today,

aging platforms and obsolete engines that should have all been refreshed 3 years ago.

While I respect your view, I disagree that that is a major issue. Something that is several years old is not necessarily broke (sometimes it is, sometimes not). And, if it ain't broke.............don't fix it. ;)


In fact, often, those older platforms and engines are a silver lining in disguise.....they are well-tested, well-proved, and have most of their initial defects corrected for good reliability.

Do away with the hedious designs! Toyota/Lexus make some of the ugliest vehicles - Murai, Prius, and the infamous spindle grills on all Lexus!

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I'm glad Lexus now has interesting products vs yawn inducing appliances.