Toyota could overtake GM in US sales in June

[neshapop]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080627/...8YT1ruI8P0kPUI

By DEE-ANN DURBIN, AP Auto Writer

DETROIT - Toyota Motor Corp. could overtake General Motors Corp. in monthly U.S. sales for the first time in June, but the victory could be a hollow one as the weak economy continues to pummel the auto industry and even Toyota struggles to meet U.S. consumers' sudden and insatiable demand for hybrid cars.

Analysts are predicting another double-digit dip in June sales, in large part because buyers are shunning big vehicles. Automakers report sales figures Tuesday.

J.D. Power and Associates, a marketing and consulting company, predicts the annualized sales rate for June — which shows what sales would be if they continued at the same rate for a full year — could be 12.5 million vehicles. If so, that would be the lowest monthly rate since 1992.

Jesse Toprak, chief industry analyst for the auto information site Edmunds.com, predicts sales will be down 13 percent in June to 1.26 million, or an annualized rate of 14.9 million. Toprak said GM could see an uptick in the last few weeks because of a zero-percent financing deal that began Tuesday, but it won't be enough to stem the automaker's losses in trucks and sport utility vehicles.

"Consumers are either postponing their purchases or buying smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles to a degree we have not seen before," Toprak said.

Falling home values, weak consumer confidence and high gas prices have taken their toll on auto sales, which had seen seven consecutive months of declines as of May. That's the longest period of consecutive monthly declines in eight years, according to Edmunds.com.

When customers do buy, they're picking smaller cars, crossovers and hybrids. The demand for more fuel efficient vehicles has been a boon to Japanese automakers like Toyota and Honda Motor Co., which rely less heavily on trucks and sport utility vehicles than the Detroit Three, while Ford Motor Co. and GM are having a hard time keeping up with consumer interest in hybrids.

In May, Toyota sold just 9,340 vehicles less than GM and grabbed 18.4 percent of the U.S. market share compared to GM's 19.1 percent. As recently as 2005, GM controlled 26 percent of the U.S. market to Toyota's 13 percent.

[Hitman1970]

Kind of hard to give a crap about sales when Toyota has over 2000% more market capitalization than you do.

GM

Shares
(Millions)
566.154

Market Cap
(Thousands)
6,539.084

Float
(Millions)
564.367

Return on
Equity
N.A.

Short
Interest
120,183,800.000

Last Dividend
Reported
0.250

Regular Cash Dividend Yield
(Trailing 12mo.)
8.666

Relative
Dividend Yield
3.615



Toyota

Shares
(Millions)
3,447.997

Market Cap
(Thousands)
148,500,350.000

Earnings
540.650

Price/
Earnings
9.381

Relative
P/E
0.568 ROE
14.493

Last Dividend
Reported
75.000

Final Dividend Yield
(Trailing 12mo.)
2.761

Rel. Dividend
Yield
1.590 90-Day

Volatility
36.740 Beta
vs. TPX
0.943

[GMusa]

I couldnt care less if Toyota overtook GM in US June sales. I just want GM vehicles to sell cars and to be profitable.

[zete]

Originally Posted by Hitman1970

Kind of hard to give a crap about sales when Toyota has over 2000% more market capitalization than you do.

GM

Shares
(Millions)
566.154

Market Cap
(Millions)
6,539.084

Float
(Millions)
564.367

Return on
Equity
N.A.

Short
Interest
120,183,800.000

Last Dividend
Reported
0.250

Regular Cash Dividend Yield
(Trailing 12mo.)
8.666

Relative
Dividend Yield
3.615



Toyota

Shares
(Millions)
3,447.997

Market Cap
(Millions)
17,481,350.000

Earnings
540.650

Price/
Earnings
9.381

Relative
P/E
0.568 ROE
14.493

Last Dividend
Reported
75.000

Final Dividend Yield
(Trailing 12mo.)
2.761

Rel. Dividend
Yield
1.590 90-Day

Volatility
36.740 Beta
vs. TPX
0.943

Your market cap for Toyota is wrong. Toyota's isn't $17 trillion (17,481,350.000 x 1,000,000 = 17,481,350,000,000!!). I think you slipped a few digits someplace. The US economy isn't $17 trillion!!!

Of course, it looks like you posted Yen instead of dollars, which makes even less sense. Apples to apples, oranges to oranges, dude.

Toyota's market cap as of today is $148.5B.

GM's market cap as of today is $6.5B.

[Hitman1970]

Originally Posted by zete

Your market cap for Toyota is wrong. Toyota's isn't $17 trillion (17,481,350.000 x 1,000,000 = 17,481,350,000,000!!). I think you slipped a few digits someplace. The US economy isn't $17 trillion!!!

Of course, it looks like you posted Yen instead of dollars, which makes even less sense. Apples to apples, oranges to oranges, dude.

Toyota's market cap as of today is $148.5B.

GM's market cap as of today is $6.5B.

Sorry, Zete. That is a cut and paste job straight off of www.Bloomberg.com. Under the fundamentals section of the stock quotes.

Funny, a government contractor handed in a report with exactly the same error today. Only it was Dollars in : Thousands and $500,000,000.00 in the cost column. His program was not half a Trillion dollars! Only half a billion. Fixed it.

Bottom line is GM does not need to sweat over this title, when it has so much else to worry about.

[zete]

Originally Posted by Hitman1970

Sorry, Zete. That is a cut and paste job straight off of www.Bloomberg.com. Under the fundamentals section of the stock quotes.

Funny, a government contractor handed in a report with exactly the same error today. Only it was Dollars in : Thousands and $500,000,000.00 in the cost column. His program was not half a Trillion dollars! Only half a billion. Fixed it.

Bottom line is GM does not need to sweat over this title, when it has so much else to worry about.

No apologies required. Computers just facilitate mistakes .

I agree, GM has to focus on profit.

I find that GM is where Apple was before Jobs came back. GM needs an iMac type success. Something to pull people over to GM again and rebuild the entire company. The Volt may well be that vehicle. It's so different, so out there that it screams "look at me".

Problem is, how long before the Volt makes its debut? And will it be enough. If GM can make enough it will be. The rumoured 20 mile range Volt at a cheaper price may well be the ticket for GM to make WAY more Volts to meet demand by eliminating half the battery or more.

[Hitman1970]

Originally Posted by zete

No apologies required. Computers just facilitate mistakes .

I agree, GM has to focus on profit.

I find that GM is where Apple was before Jobs came back. GM needs an iMac type success. Something to pull people over to GM again and rebuild the entire company. The Volt may well be that vehicle. It's so different, so out there that it screams "look at me".

Problem is, how long before the Volt makes its debut? And will it be enough. If GM can make enough it will be. The rumoured 20 mile range Volt at a cheaper price may well be the ticket for GM to make WAY more Volts to meet demand by eliminating half the battery or more.

I am starting to believe that some of the low hp 4-cylinder offerings that Opel has are now fair game for an FE trim for all of GMs brands, except Caddy of course. They just need to be honest. "You'll get great mileage, but the performance will be impacted." $4 per gallon gas makes this a viable gamble in my opinion. Think of it as XFE Cobalt surgery across the board.

[windvale]

Originally Posted by zete

I find that GM is where Apple was before Jobs came back. GM needs an iMac type success. Something to pull people over to GM again and rebuild the entire company. The Volt may well be that vehicle. It's so different, so out there that it screams "look at me".

Problem is, how long before the Volt makes its debut? And will it be enough. If GM can make enough it will be. The rumoured 20 mile range Volt at a cheaper price may well be the ticket for GM to make WAY more Volts to meet demand by eliminating half the battery or more.

I know the folks on this site are looking for the Volt to stand the industry on its ear, but...it looks like VW is coming out with a version of the Golf that will match the Volt (i.e. lithium-ion, 30 miles on electricity). I worry that GM may be betting everything on the Volt, while the competition may be able to match/exceed the Volt's performance and render it an "also ran".

Check out the link here:

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=128028

[WishIhadatruck]

They may offer 30 mile range but does it offer full accleration and full speed capabilities during that time? I'm asking because I don't know. It isn't as useful if the elec. drive capabilities only allow slow speed city driving. We know the Volt will be full capable even with the ICE off.

[tgagneguam]

Originally Posted by GMusa

I couldnt care less if Toyota overtook GM in US June sales. I just want GM vehicles to sell cars and to be profitable.

Do you honestly think a shrinking GM has any chance in hell of becoming profitable? GM has been shrinking since the mid-80's. Why, all of a sudden, is GM going to become profitable from further constriction? The short answer is it won't. If you owned a business, you would appreciate that fixed costs dictate that for profit to occur you need to generate a minimum amount in revenues. The further GM shrinks, the less likely they will be able to address their massive fixed costs... despite their reasonable attempts to pare these fixed costs through firing people and unloading underperforming assets. You can readily see that in the financial statements that have occurred since the turn of this century.

No, I prefer a more pro-active solution: grow the business. This defeatist approach of "I don't care if Toyota overtakes GM, as long as GM is profitable" crap hasn't worked. It sounds nice to give up, and I can see where that would be appealing to some people, but, again, it hasn't been able to bear the fruit everyone seems to think it will.

Time to become competitive, GM.

[ejfx]

If gas prices were not so high, this wouldnt be an issue right now...or maybe ever.

The main factor for people buying cars over the past few years is fuel economy...

toyota got lucky with this...
or maybe they planned this all along...maybe thats why they invested trillions into China...they knew it would create a boom for China, thus creating a huge demand for oil, end resulting in crazy high prices around the world

toyota knew they could never break our truck / suv market, so they caused oil prices to rise and forced us to stop buying trucks/suv and forced us into thier eco cars...they are hell bent on world domination...this is how the will do it

toyota is just a trojan horse!

[BigThreeForever]

"Toyota - America's #1 brand!"

"Toyota - the biggest American car company!"

"Toyota - America's favourite!"

I can hear it now.

This is sickening news, just absolutely nauseating.

Just imagine how the media will love that, fawning over perfect Toyota and its "fuel-sipping" model range, while excoriating GM for apparently being the only company in world history to market thirsty SUVs. I'm not sure I will be able to stand another giant dose of biased media gloating.

It represents the beginning of the end for Detroit, though. Toyota is totally dominant and totally secure in its own home market, and is about to overtake - perhaps already has overtaken - GM in GM's home market.

It is difficult - indeed, to my eyes, impossible - to see how GM, steadily "restructuring" (i.e., shrinking) its way to oblivion, will be ever be able to effectively engage Toyota.

Many here seem to think that the Volt heralds a new dawn for GM. I do not. As promising as the Volt sounds, I cannot see it changing anything, quite honestly. It will be a niche product, and one probably matched by competitors.

I am unsure if the Ford Motor Company can be saved; I just don't know, though Ford has the most dynamic and aggressive management right now. Maybe Mullally will just be able to do it.

I think that Chrysler will be gone very soon, alas. I just can't see them having the time and money to turn things around.

As for GM, I have a dreadful feeling that, a decade hence (perhaps less), there will still be a company called GM, it will sell only Chevrolets and Cadillacs, it will have 10.5% of the US market and it will be owned by the Indians or Chinese.

God help us.

[drew770]

This was expected.
Toyota has become the ideal auto company. Profitable and stable with a great managment team.
Are they perfect? No. Building a truck plant in San Antonio wasn't the greatest but at least Toyota built a flexible plant.

Is it the end of GM's domination of the North American market? Yes, in it's current form. While Ford has an agressive management, GM's tend to be fat and lazy. Wandering in the halls looking at past glories and still asking if gas will get cheaper so they don't have to do anything hard.

With too many brands and too many overlapping products, it will be tough for GM to turn around the North American operation. Profit makers such as the large trucks and suvs are falling out of favor and will not recover any time soon.

It's time for not only GM's board but the UAW to go into panic mood and make some drastic changes ASAP. Not only is Wall Street looking for it but GM's loyal fans are looking for it.
No one wants this great American icon and symbol of American manufactoring might to go out of business but at least GM can put up one hell of a fight to avoid it.

It is a sad time for American Icons. There are sharks circling the water for Hersey's, US Steel, Alcoa, Anheuser Busch and Citibank.

Does the government need to step in and protect the icons? If you believe in free trade, then your answer is no but what about Fair Trade. The government of France blocked companies from taking over Danone saying that it was a French Icon. Danone makes yorgurt for heavens sake but at least the French had to balls to keep it a french company. Knowing that any company that will take over Danone would shift jobs outside of France because of it's high labor cost the government man up and blocked the suitors.

Time will tell if GM and Ford will be able to turn things around or will our government just let the last of American auto giants fall by the wayside like our textile and electronic industries.

[GermanCarGuy]

Anybody, preferring a Toyota over a GM-Vehicle should read this: http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=562

[GermanCarGuy]

Originally Posted by BigThreeForever

"Toyota - America's #1 brand!"

"Toyota - the biggest American car company!"

"Toyota - America's favourite!"

I can hear it now.

This is sickening news, just absolutely nauseating.

Just imagine how the media will love that, fawning over perfect Toyota and its "fuel-sipping" model range, while excoriating GM for apparently being the only company in world history to market thirsty SUVs. I'm not sure I will be able to stand another giant dose of biased media gloating.

It represents the beginning of the end for Detroit, though. Toyota is totally dominant and totally secure in its own home market, and is about to overtake - perhaps already has overtaken - GM in GM's home market.

It is difficult - indeed, to my eyes, impossible - to see how GM, steadily "restructuring" (i.e., shrinking) its way to oblivion, will be ever be able to effectively engage Toyota.

Many here seem to think that the Volt heralds a new dawn for GM. I do not. As promising as the Volt sounds, I cannot see it changing anything, quite honestly. It will be a niche product, and one probably matched by competitors.

I am unsure if the Ford Motor Company can be saved; I just don't know, though Ford has the most dynamic and aggressive management right now. Maybe Mullally will just be able to do it.

I think that Chrysler will be gone very soon, alas. I just can't see them having the time and money to turn things around.

As for GM, I have a dreadful feeling that, a decade hence (perhaps less), there will still be a company called GM, it will sell only Chevrolets and Cadillacs, it will have 10.5% of the US market and it will be owned by the Indians or Chinese.

God help us.

I don't think so, that the Volt will nothing be more than a niche-product. According to a survey, even over here in Germany, where Plug-In- or Hybrid-Vehicles are nearly unknown so far, 36% would be prepared to switching to a car with such a propulsion-concept.