Posts Tagged ‘toyota china’
GM comes in a close second for Q1, VW close behind.
by Paul A. Eisenstein on Apr.24, 2013
Akio Toyoda with the new Lexus ES.
Toyota maintained its title as world’s best-selling automaker for the first quarter of 2013 – though the gap began to close as the Japanese maker struggled to regain its momentum in the critical Chinese market.
The industry giant — which regained its sales crown last year after a disastrous loss of production in 2011 due to Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami — reports selling 2.43 million vehicles between January and March. But that was a 2.2% decline. General Motors maintained its second-place position at 2.36 million vehicles, but closed much of the gap with a 3.6% increase.
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Volkswagen, which finished 2012 in third-place, maintained that podium position for the first quarter after a 5.1% increasing in global demand brought its sales to 2.27 million. VW officials have openly set a goal of becoming the world’s number one maker before the end of this decade.
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Tags: Akio Toyoda, GM sales, VW sales, paul a. eisenstein, paul eisenstein, thedetroitbureau, toyota china, toyota global sales leader, toyota number one, toyota sales, toyota sales q1 2013
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Chinese airline to start in-flight car sales.
by Joseph Szczesny on Mar.12, 2013
VW and GM remain locked in a battle for dominance in the booming Chinese market.
Surging global stock markets slipped back this week as China released surprisingly weak economic data – but one sector of the vast Asian nation’s economy remains strong, Chinese car sales surging 40% for the first two months of 2013 after an unexpectedly weak performance last year.
For some carmakers, Chinese demand appears to be surging as they bring on new products, while for others, it is taking new discounts to help bolster sales.
But industry analysts continue to worry about what may happen as government regulators come under increasing pressure from both the public and a new cadre of Communist Party leaders to tighten environmental regulations in the wake of record pollution levels in the capital Beijing and other parts of the country. As TheDetroitBureau.com recently reported, stricter automotive emission rules – possibly including a press for more battery cars – are being actively considered.
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The 40% year-to-date increase in overall Chinese car sales comes despite a drop in February as the Chinese celebrated the Lunar New Year, a week-long holiday during which little or no business is transacted across China.
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Tags: auto news, car news, china auto, china auto sales, china battery cars, china car, china car sales, china electric vehicles, china pollution, chinese auto sales, chinese car sales, gm china, paul a. eisenstein, paul eisenstein, thedetroitbureau, toyota china, vw china
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GM slides to second, VW in third.
by Paul A. Eisenstein on Jan.28, 2013
The success of the latest Toyota Camry helped the maker regain its global sales crown.
Toyota has officially reclaimed its global sales crown, the maker confirming it produced 9.75 million vehicles in 2012.
That was slightly ahead of a preliminary tally Toyota forecast as the year came to a close and locks it in first place ahead of General Motors, which sold 9.29 million vehicles. Volkswagen, at 9.1 million, came in third for 2012.
Toyota’s sales were slightly lower than the company had projected earlier in the year, the shortfall reflecting the ongoing dispute between Japan and China over a chain of small, uninhabited islands both nations claim.
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In customary fashion, Toyota officials downplayed the sales results. “Rather than going after numbers, we hope to make fine products, one by one, to keep out customers satisfied. The numbers are just a result of our policy. And our policy will continue unchanged,” Toyota spokeswoman Shino Yamada told the Associated Press.
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Tags: Akio Toyoda, GM sales, auto news, car news, paul a. eisenstein, paul eisenstein, thedetroitbureau, toyota china, toyota china boycott, toyota global sales, toyota gm, toyota news, toyota recalls, toyota safety, toyota sales, toyota sales crown, volkswagen sales
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Maker still has a month to go before closing books on 2012.
by Paul A. Eisenstein on Dec.06, 2012
A Cadillac XLR at its Beijing debut earlier this year.
The once-explosive pace of growth in the Chinese car market has slowed down sharply this year – which means that General Motors had to wait until November to set a new sales record.
With a month left to run up the final total, GM and its various affiliates have sold 2,593,642 cars, trucks and crossovers in China, compared with 2,547,171 for all of last year. The good news for GM – and its competitors – was that November saw a renewed surge in a market that has, over the past decade, seen sales nearly double in some years.
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GM isn’t alone, however, Ford was one of a number of other makers that also reported hitting all-time sales records by the end of November and still more are expected to get there by the time December’s numbers are tallied. On the other hand, key Japanese makers could miss their once-lofty sales goals as a result of ongoing political turmoil.
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Tags: auto news, car news, china car, chinese car sales, gm china, gm china record sales, gm china sales, gm news, nissan china, paul a. eisenstein, paul eisenstein, thedetroitbureau, toyota china, vw china
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Maker forecasts $10 billon profit for full year.
by Paul A. Eisenstein on Nov.05, 2012
Toyota hopes to keep its momentum going with new products like the completely redesigned Avalon.
Toyota Motor Co. tripled its net earnings for the July – September quarter as it continued recovering from last year’s devastating Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
The huge jump – which saw the maker’s profit jump to 257.9 billion yen, or $3.2 billion, well in excess of analysts’ consensus forecasts — came despite lopsided exchange rates and the impact of a boycott in China. And it encouraged to maker to forecast that net earnings for the full year will now reach $9.8 billion, up from an earlier forecast of $9.5 billion.
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“We have revised the forecast we announced at the end of the first quarter to reflect the progress we have been making,” said Executive Vice President Satoshi Ozawa.
Toyota operates on a fiscal year ending March 31st, so the latest earnings mark the end of the first half of that year during which it saw profits surge 572.1% compared to year-earlier levels.
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Sales up 28% for first 9 months of 2012.
by Paul A. Eisenstein on Oct.26, 2012
Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda may miss his ambitious sales goal for 2012 but still regain the global automotive sales crown.
Toyota is fast recovering from last year’s Japanese earthquake and tsunami, a disaster that left it struggling for inventory for most of 2011.
And while the maker has suffered additional setbacks this year – including a boycott in China and its largest single recall ever due to a vehicle fire hazard – it is rapidly regaining momentum, global sales up 28% for the first nine months of 2012. That puts it ahead of General Motors and could let the Japanese giant the worldwide automotive sales crown it relinquished last year.
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In all, Toyota sold 7.4 million vehicles behind January 1 and September 30. By comparison, General Motors sold just 6.95 million cars, trucks and crossovers during the same period, its own sales up a far more modest 2.5%.
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Tags: Akio Toyoda, GM sales, auto news, car news, paul a. eisenstein, paul eisenstein, thedetroitbureau, toyota china, toyota china boycott, toyota global sales, toyota gm, toyota news, toyota on track for sales crown, toyota recalls, toyota safety, toyota sales, volkswagen sales
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Hammered by boycott over island dispute.
by Paul A. Eisenstein on Oct.18, 2012
A Toyota dealership in Qingdao was burned by protestors in a dispute over an island chain claimed by both China and Japan.
The ongoing dispute over a chain of uninhabited islands in the South China Sea is proving to be more than just a matter of international politics. A boycott by Chinese consumers has led to a sharp downturn in sales among Japanese automotive brands and that will force Toyota to sharply scale back production at its largest Chinese assembly plant, according to reports from Asia.
Two of the three lines at the factory in Tianjin, part of a joint venture between Toyota and China’s First Auto Works, or FAW, will be idled next week while the third line will undergo additional cutbacks, according to Japan’s Nikkei news service and other sources.
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The Asahi Shimbun, meanwhile, indicates Toyota may have to adjust future production plans if an ongoing boycott drags on.
While Toyota declined to discuss the reports it has confirmed its September sales plunged 48.9% compared to year-earlier levels. While the Chinese market has been slowing in recent months, that downturn is unquestionably related to rising political tensions between the two countries touched off when Japan purchased a chain of islets from their private owner.
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Tags: auto news, car news, china boycott, chinese boycott japanese cars, daioyu islands, japan boycott, paul a. eisenstein, paul eisenstein, senkaku islands, thedetroitbureau, toyota, toyota china, toyota china production, toyota cuts production in china, toyota news
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Problems mount with global recall, China cutback.
by Joseph Szczesny on Oct.11, 2012
Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda -- shown here at the launch of the Lexus GS.
Toyota Motor Co.’s comeback appears to have hit a couple of serious potholes with trouble in China and a huge and potentially expensive new recall.
In response to the new challenges, Standard & Poors has lowered its opinion of Toyota’s American Depository Shares to “Hold” from “Buy.” Those shares are used to permit the Japanese automotive giant to trade in the U.S., as well as Japan.
“Although we have not yet quantified the financial impact, we lower our opinion to reflect headline risk we see from increased headwinds in certain parts of its operations,” Efraim Levy, S&P’s senior equity analyst, said in a note to investors.
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Toyota had been on a roll for most of 2011, the maker’s outpacing the recovery of the overall U.S. market and posting a 41.5% jump just last month. President Akio Toyoda accompanied strong earnings news released in August by forecasting Toyota with sold nearly 10 million vehicles worldwide this fiscal year, handily out-performing the previous 9.36 million record set in 2007.
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Sales collapse in wake of disputed over barren islands.
by Paul A. Eisenstein on Oct.10, 2012
Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn - shown during this year's Beijing Motor Show - now has to temporarily scale back once-ambitious plans for the Chinese market.
They’re little more than some volcanic outcroppings in the midst of the South China Sea, but the dispute over their ownership between China and Japan has led to a collapse in demand for brands like Toyota, Nissan and Honda in the booming Chinese auto market.
The three largest Japanese makers now plan to cut by half their production in China in the wake of recent protests and ongoing calls for Chinese consumers to boycott Japanese products. Meanwhile, Toyota plans to compensate owners whose vehicles were damaged or destroyed during protests over the Diaoyu Islands controversy.
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“Our principle is that the customer should not be liable, regardless of whether or not their vehicle already has insurance,” noted an official statement from FAW Toyota, one of the Japanese maker’s Chinese joint ventures. Its other operations will reportedly take similar steps that could include assisting in repair costs or offering subsidies for a replacement vehicle.
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Tags: auto news, car news, china protests, china riots, chinese auto production, daioyu islands, island controversy, japan china, nissan china, paul a. eisenstein, paul eisenstein, senkaku islands, thedetroitbureau, toyota china
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China warns Japanese car sales likely to slide.
by Joseph Szczesny on Sep.19, 2012
Chinese Honda workers will be off the job for several days due to mounting protests.
Japanese automakers operating in China are facing a new wave of troubles as political tensions between the two Asian powerhouses escalated due to a dispute over tiny uninhabited islands in the South China Sea. At least three major makers have temporarily idled their Chinese factories as anti-Japanese sentiments reach levels not seen for decades.
The People’s Daily, the newspaper favored by China’s ruling Communist party, said Japanese automakers are facing tough times in China, as ongoing territorial tensions between the two countries “start to hurt sales.”
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“The serious impact we are seeing is far beyond our expectations,” Luo Lei, deputy secretary-general of the China Automobile Dealers Association, told the People’s Daily. “It will be impossible for struggling Japanese automakers to achieve their full-year sales targets.”
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