Toyota NOW No.1 car maker.

[F Body]

This morning GM announced record first quarter 2007 sales of 2.26 million vehicles worldwide.

Toyota has just announced sales of 2.35 million over the same period

Just goes to prove that most people in the world don't care what there car looks like or how it goes, providing it's just reliable

God we'll all be driving white boxes soon

[HardRockCamaro]

I find it hard to be lieve becuase frankly I just don't see that many Toyota vehicles on the road, but loads from the GM family...

Must be foreign types in Africa and South America buying natty little HiLux's for their soldiers and minicab drivers buying Avensis and Previas...

[EDGE]

Avensis FTL...

[philoldsmobile]

toyota are massive in australia too, the land cruiser is the ONLY truck to have in the outback

[Titsy]

To be fair, I was looking at Celica's before I bought the 'maro...

[Fieldy]

I can believe it, was only A matter of time.....

They have broken more markets in less of an impact way.

Not the worst car manufactors, however, not my liking.....

Also, sales have helped in London as the Prius isn't included in the Congestion Charge.

[FUBAR]

Quoting: Fieldy

the Prius isn't included in the Congestion Charge.

Poor Little naieve government... little do they know.

[Fieldy]

Quoting: FUBAR

the Prius isn't included in the Congestion Charge.


Poor Little naieve government... little do they know.

well said

[Shifty]

Those figures probably include lexo as well.

Up until now Toyota have always been a car manufacturer I like (hence the MR2) but since thy have dropped the MR2 and Celica from production they only sell boring, tacky, cheaply made crap now.

You still see plenty of them out on the road but they just make me yawn.

Philo is very correct Toyota are massive in Australia and other eastern countries, also quite big in America. There Technicals also go down well in war torn countries as you can mount a 50cal on top and kill thousands of innocent people whilst only having to do an oil change every 20K.

[F Body]

Had an e-mail from Rick Wagoner the GM Boss this morning :

Like many of you, I woke up to news reports today of Toyota passing GM in global sales in the first quarter this year, for the first time ever.  While we posted record first quarter global sales of more than 2.2 million units last week, Toyota's first quarter results were approximately 79,000 units higher.  We still have the majority of the year in front of us, and we will fight hard for every sale – all the while staying focused on our long-term goals as a global, growing company.

One question is where did Toyota pass us in sales?  Basically, Toyota beats us badly in their home market of Japan (by 2.4 million units on an annual basis), and we win in most other markets (in fact, we win in 12 of the other 14 largest markets).  Toyota has also cut our lead in the U.S., which still totaled 1.5 million units at the end of last year.  Generally, we lead in the key developing markets like China, but Toyota and others are battling us hard in these markets, as well.

So there you have it from the horses mouth, the most worrying fact that has been missed by all the news reports, is that becuase Toyota doesn't have all the health care and pension costs like GM, there average profit margin on each vehicle is four times that of GM

Quoting: Shifty

You still see plenty of them out on the road but they just make me yawn.

Hit the nail on the head there - boring - dull and predictable but more people buy them - go figure

[Shifty]

They are making more money per car and selling more of them, they must be doing something right.

The only think I can think of is that they have read the market quite well and understood that people don't like spending money, there for they build cheap, reliable cars. No thrills just adequate.

Lets be serious the bottom has fallen out of the automotive market really. No one likes spending money these days and very few people see driving as something to enjoy. The automobile is a means of getting from A to B and the consumer wants to do this as cheaply as possible.

Look out side your office window and see how many real drivers cars you can see in the car park.
I can only see a few in amongst the FWD shopping trolley's (golf,fiesta,306,ibiza,clio,focus etc....) family cars (3-5series,mondeos,vectras,9-3,9-3,A4,passat etc...) and the farm vehicles (X5, ML, land cruisers etc...).
Some of the above might have powerful engines, and good handling characteristics but they are all just standard looking every day cars with bolted on bits. Nothing really that special at all.

Just my opinion.

[F Body]

Quoting: Shifty

very few people see driving as something to enjoy. The automobile is a means of getting from A to B and the consumer wants to do this as cheaply as possible.

You only have to look at the state of some quite new cars to see that

The next 20 years should be quite interesting from an Automotive point of view !

[Roadkill]

I agree with Shifty - the MR2's and Celica's are nice looking and obviously very driveable cars . . . without these I don't rate Toyota at all.

[F Body]

Here's another reason why Toyota are on top ( pun not intended ).

News from Gaywheels.com about the top ten cars Gay people drive :

  1.  Toyota Yaris
  2. Saab 9-3 (sedan and convertible)
  3. Toyota Camry
  4. Volkswagen Jetta
  5. Mazda MX-5
  6. VW EOS
  7. VW Rabbit
  8. Dodge Caliber
  9. Audi A3
 10. Toyota Corolla

Gaywheels.com points out that all the cars in the Top 10 are produced by "gay-friendly" automakers, thus assessed by their manufacturer's provision of spousal benefits to same-sex partners of employees

[Titsy]

Quoting: F Body

Saab 9-3 (sedan and convertible)

Didn't G-unit drive one of these...

Quoting: F Body

Mazda MX-5

Sammy the rug muncher....

[ianjpage]

[Roadkill]

Quoting: Titsy

Sammy the rug muncher....

I think Ghey implies, in this case, male.

Lesbos top 10 would probably include Landrovers, 800-series beamers, Hummers . . . .

[FUBAR]

LOL yeah 'butch' cars

[Pod]

Quoting: Roadkill

Lesbos top 10 would probably include Landrovers, 800-series beamers, Hummers . . .

And also, quite possibly the:

Quoting: F Body

7. VW Rabbit

[Roadkill]

Ah, Yes.  Obvious one that.