Toyota Reports 34% Rise in Profits to $3.3 billion

[Ming]

Toyota reports rise in fiscal 3rd-quarter profit
Katsumi Kasahara / AP
2/7/2006

With a photo of Toyota's best-selling car, the Camry, projected on the screen, Toyota senior managing director Takeshi Suzuki, right, speaks during a news conference in Tokyo Tuesday. Toyota reported a 34 percent rise in profit for the quarter ended Dec. 31 as the Japanese automaker marked solid sales growth in North America and Asia.



Updated: 8:16 a.m. ET Feb. 7, 2006

TOKYO - Toyota, whose solid growth could put it ahead of General Motors as the world's No. 1 automaker, reported a 34 percent rise in profit Tuesday for the quarter ended Dec. 31 as sales jumped in North America and Asia.

Toyota Motor Corp., the world's second-biggest automaker, marked a record group net profit of 397.6 billion yen ($3.3 billion) during the three months, up from 296.5 billion yen the same period a year earlier.

Sales for the quarter were also a record for the company at 5.33 trillion yen ($45 billion), up 15 percent from 4.64 trillion yen the previous year.

Tsuyoshi Mochimaru, auto analyst for Deutsche Securities in Tokyo, said Toyota was definitely on its way to further growth although GM may also succeed in selling more cars, especially outside the United States.

FULL Article: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11214812/page/2/

[sags]

Toyota announces a 3 billion dollar profit for 4th quarter of 2005 (34 per cent increase). They are recording over 12 billion dollars a year in profit while GM loses 8 billion a year. That is a 20 billion dollar difference. All the Toyota plants are up to date, they spend a lot of money on development and they have no pension or health care obligations. A daunting task for GM to stay in this game.
See link below

http://www.autonet.ca/News/story.cfm...429689-ap.html

A link on the same page announces an expansion of the coming plant in Woodstock, Ontario before it is even built. (earth still being moved around)

See link on left side of page.

As a retired GM warehouse employee in Woodstock, it is sad to see the GM National Parts Warehouse being downsized while Toyota comes into town with all the fanfare. At one time, we had over 600 people working in a bustling warehouse and now there is about 250 left with more leaving this year on early retirement packages. Sad, sad state of affairs for GM. Years of arrogance and a superior mentality are coming home to roost at GM headquarters.

[Gixx]

"Toyota's results stand out even compared to other Japanese automakers, which have been taking advantage of their reputation for good mileage and reliability to gain market share recently, especially in North America, amid rising gas prices."

How do you get past this rep? As an employee of the General this is the most frustrating thing!!!

[tgagneguam]

Sure, favorable exchange rates added to the bottom line. But there's no denying one thing: Toyota is well-managed, and its great sales and financial performance reflects that. It'd be nice to see GM adopt the same focus.

[Cortazzo]

Originally Posted by Gixx

"Toyota's results stand out even compared to other Japanese automakers, which have been taking advantage of their reputation for good mileage and reliability to gain market share recently, especially in North America, amid rising gas prices."

How do you get past this rep? As an employee of the General this is the most frustrating thing!!!

The reason GM doesn't have a better rep for mileage vs the japanese (at least in my view) is because most japanese cars have 4 cyls, and japanese 4 cyls in all cases destroy the ecotecs in terms of mileage by usually 4-5 mpg highway. I know that GM beats them in 6 and 8 cyl mileage, but you guys need to make up some ground in the 4 cyl arena. Maybe producing a direct injection 2.0 stateside instead of a 2.2 or 2.4 would help make up the difference while adding some sexy technology to the base engines.

[DuallyMan]

Toyota's market capitalization is $185 billion and counting!

[ProjectRS]

Looks like their strategy is really working our well

[Whirling_Dervish]

Originally Posted by Gixx

"Toyota's results stand out even compared to other Japanese automakers, which have been taking advantage of their reputation for good mileage and reliability to gain market share recently, especially in North America, amid rising gas prices."

How do you get past this rep? As an employee of the General this is the most frustrating thing!!!

Simple:

1. Stop fighting CAFE.
2. Embrace and push new technologies.
3. Stop responding to the competition and become the competition. In this day and age ABS should be standard across the board. When Korean companies list more standard equipment, you have a problem.
4. Engineer for fuel economy and don't treat it as an after thought.
5. Stop cheaping out on PRODUCT. When people buy Nissan's crap interiors but continue to dis yours, you have a problem.
6. Forward thinking designs.
7. Forward thinking designs.
8. Forward thinking designs.
9. Forward thinking designs.
10. No bean counters in decision making roles.

Do some of this and the result will start to rebuild rep. Do all of this and GM will be #1 for another 50 years.

[Whirling_Dervish]

Originally Posted by tgagneguam

Sure, favorable exchange rates added to the bottom line. But there's no denying one thing: Toyota is well-managed, and its great sales and financial performance reflects that. It'd be nice to see GM adopt the same focus.

In other news, Autoline Detroit reported Ford managed a profit of about 1% this year or iirc $1B(though they still lost money in their car business). They are turning faster than GM.

[hunchman]

....and don't forget toyota won the superbowl as was stated here yesterday.......lol

[importedtuna]

One of the news channels was showing stock video of GM cars and Toyota cars when running this story, and they had GM with HUMMER Alphas and Chevrolet Blazers (the old ones) vs. Toyota with a Camry and Prius.....!

[JVal14]

Toyota (and Honda to a lesser degree) does seem to be unstoppable at this point. But lest we forget, people were saying the same things about GM and Ford fifty years ago. Then those two companies began a downward ride that was caused by the combination of many factors, some within their control, some outside. You never know when the right combination of events could flip the automotive world on it's head.

[cfch3399]

All the money that GM is going to start saving has got to go into product.
No more 3-speed OD auto transmissions, weird and unreliable electric steering, drum brakes, lack of ABS, funky interiors, ugly instrument panels, missing gauges, center-stacked instrument panels, poorly assembled parts, cheap brake rotors, and all the other annoyances that plague GM cars. Quality is not just about how long the powertrain lasts, the rest of the car has to last, too.

[MutoidMan]

Originally Posted by sags

...and they have no pension or health care obligations.

Is it any wonder they have so much cash? Thanks UAW!

[Whirling_Dervish]

Originally Posted by cfch3399

All the money that GM is going to start saving has got to go into product.
No more 3-speed OD auto transmissions, weird and unreliable electric steering, drum brakes, lack of ABS, funky interiors, ugly instrument panels, missing gauges, center-stacked instrument panels, poorly assembled parts, cheap brake rotors, and all the other annoyances that plague GM cars. Quality is not just about how long the powertrain lasts, the rest of the car has to last, too.

Wow, you pretty much listed all of my gripes.