Toyota won't help out domestic car manufacturers

[clawhammer]

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it will not raise its car prices to help U.S. rivals, breaking with its chairman's comments a day earlier that voluntary price increases and other steps were in order to help restore health to the U.S. auto industry.

"Our basic stance is that prices are something for the market to determine," a spokesman at Japan's top auto manufacturer said. "We are not thinking about changing (vehicle) prices in order to help the U.S. auto industry."

Japanese brands collectively grabbed a record 30 percent share of the U.S. auto market last year, and some executives have become more sensitive about how their companies' success would play out at the political level.

At the annual motor show in Detroit earlier this year, Toyota President Fujio Cho and Honda Motor Co. Chief Executive Takeo Fukui said Japanese brands' expansion in the United States should not go unchecked, with Fukui volunteering that the combined share should be kept under 40 percent.

"I'm worried not only about GM but about the entire U.S. auto industry," Toyota Chairman Hiroshi Okuda told a news conference Monday as the head of Japan's biggest business lobby, the Japan Business Federation.

"Automobiles are the symbol of American industry, and if things go wrong there may be some kind of impact.

"As an automaker, we have to think about what countermeasures we can take," Okuda said, adding that technical alliances and voluntary price rises are possibilities.

A top Honda executive, however, mirrored Toyota's official stance that raising car prices to help the competition in North America was out of the question.

"I realize that GM, as well as Ford, are suffering financially," Executive Vice President Koichi Amemiya told a news conference at which Honda reported a fourth straight year of record earnings.

"But that doesn't mean you ignore the customer and raise your prices," he said.

Hit by falling U.S. sales and growing costs for employee health care, General Motors Corp. (Research) last week recorded a first-quarter loss of $1.1 billion, its worst result since the world's biggest auto manufacturer nearly went bust in 1992.

Its automotive operations lost almost $2 billion, most of that in North America as it offered thousands of dollars in sales incentives per vehicle to lure customers back. Even then, GM surrendered more sales to Asian brands, especially in the light trucks segment, its main cash cow.

Its rival Ford Motor Co. (Research) had a 38 percent drop in quarterly earnings and cut its North American production to reduce bloated inventories of unsold vehicles.

In contrast, Toyota and Honda, the world's most valuable auto manufacturers, are expected to report their best-ever earnings for the year that ended last month.

Japan's second-ranked Nissan Motor Co. reported its best operating profit for the fourth year in a row Monday.

GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner has repeatedly complained that the yen is too weak against the dollar, giving Japanese auto makers an unfair edge.

Toyota and Honda have argued that they are building more than half of their cars sold in the United States locally, creating jobs for Americans.

Toyota said it was constantly studying what the appropriate price of its cars should be based on the competitive environment, costs and profits, but that it had no decision now on any changes to its prices in North America.


My opinion:
GM screwed things up, they should fix it themselves, without going to congress crying.

[Musashi3000GT]

I dont see it along the lines of "toyota wont help out domestic car companies" but rather

"U.S. car companies want to raise prices on the same shit they are already selling, Toyota and Honda disagree, the consumer is more important then some corporate fatass promotion."

but thats just my opinion. I like a nice car sold at a fair price.

[Amish_kid]

I don't see why they should have to help them out, if it was reversed Gm wouldn't lift a god damed finger so fuck them.

[CivRacer95]

Originally Posted by Musashi3000GT

I dont see it along the lines of "toyota wont help out domestic car companies" but rather

"U.S. car companies want to raise prices on the same shit they are already selling, Toyota and Honda disagree, the consumer is more important then some corporate fatass promotion."

but thats just my opinion. I like a nice car sold at a fair price.

Exactly how I feel.

[TheStang00]

well i think ford will recover, they have made huge changes over the last year and being a ford guy like i am i am really excited to see all the things they are doing, i think they are really moving forward, their vehicles are becoming increasingly reliable and their new body stiles look better than ever. and they have made a complete switch over to over head cam engines, getting rid of the old technology and preparing more for the future.

[drftk1d]

funny how gm and toyota share platforms...

shit, even the saturn vue redline has a honda motor.

doesnt look like General Motors is really in a position to be asking other manufacturers to help them further.

[uranium235powered]

IMO, US manufacturers should "LOWER" the prices of their cars if they want to grab more customers. If they increase the acr prices, they'll lose even more customers. Sell the Ford GT and the Dodge Viper at more affordable prices like at around $80,000. Produce more powerful handling RWD cars at reasonable prices. Offer a lifetime warrenty even when customers mod the shit out of their cars at no extra charge.

Thats probably all impossible, but its just my opinion of how they could get more buyers. But I'm still leaning towards the Japanese market...because of their styling and aftermarket. Just personal preference.

[drftk1d]

the viper does cost about 80k...

[Sticky]

GM would be doing better if they actually built cars people were intersted in buying. The Cobalt is a nice compact, and stacks up well against the competition it has. The Corvette is a good performance car. Everythign else other than their SUVs are still not where they need to be. The Monte Carlo and Grand Prix need to be RWD, not FWD; the GTO needs restyled and dropped in price.

GM has the engines to make some great cars, they just need to make some cars to put the engines in now.

[chexmixa]

HEHE they didn't mention dodge in that whole mess. I know they aren't selling as well as toyota honda or nissan but thye are at least maken a profit lol.

[TheStang00]

Originally Posted by uranium235powered

Produce more powerful handling RWD cars at reasonable prices.

thats the mustang... the mustang really doesnt have direct competition from any one car.

[TheStang00]

Originally Posted by chexmixa

HEHE they didn't mention dodge in that whole mess. I know they aren't selling as well as toyota honda or nissan but thye are at least maken a profit lol.

well ill tell ya what... that new charger looks like crap, dodge needs to rethink that one. the srt-4 is the only good thing that i can think of that they got going for em.

[clawhammer]

Originally Posted by uranium235powered

IMO, US manufacturers should "LOWER" the prices of their cars if they want to grab more customers. If they increase the acr prices, they'll lose even more customers. Sell the Ford GT and the Dodge Viper at more affordable prices like at around $80,000. Produce more powerful handling RWD cars at reasonable prices. Offer a lifetime warrenty even when customers mod the shit out of their cars at no extra charge.

Thats probably all impossible, but its just my opinion of how they could get more buyers. But I'm still leaning towards the Japanese market...because of their styling and aftermarket. Just personal preference.

The problem is not the sports segment. That accounts for like .00001% of the market. The problem is with their family cars, trucks, SUVs and minivans. Those are the ones that aren't selling.

[TheStang00]

i dont know how true the is for trucks, ford trucks were the best selling vehicle in 2004 by more than 300,000. they sold nearly 1 million of them, the next best selling car, which was the camry, sold 600,000 some cars. dodge trucks were third or fourth or something and they were also around the 600k mark

[clawhammer]

I could get money that Ford will not sell 1 million F150s this year. Just a guess, it will probably be around 750,000.