Toyota Profit Slips 28% as Truck Sales Fall – NYTimes.com
This story in yesterday’s online New York Times has a couple of interesting points.
Toyota said its net income fell to 353.7 billion yen ($3.2 billion), in the quarter, compared with 491.5 billion yen in the period a year earlier.
So they, like everyone else, are being hurt by the plunge in big truck sales.
But note that their profits are down. This is different from their losses are up.
their overall results were hardly comparable to the $15.5 billion loss reported by General Motors and the $8.7 billion loss by the Ford Motor Company…
Just as a "check" of the financial results, let’s look at market share:
The automaker improved its market share in the United States to 17.4 percent in the quarter, even as its sales volumes declined.
So, yes, their sales are down, but they are down less than everyone else’s.
Now, to be clear, Toyota has issues. Who doesn’t? But, year on year, their management system is delivering the thing that is most important to them: Consistency.
On a side note, our data shows Honda’s sales at a 1.1% increase. I’m unaware if this is a quarterly or annual figure, but they must have read the market and answered well. All other companies sales were down. I can’t speak for their proffit, but maybe I’ll try looking that up.
Toyota took their main hit in the Tundra and full-size SUV segment, a place where Honda is not really a major player. I think Honda’s general lineup has a higher proportion of smaller cars, and their reputation is good for fuel economy. Just a guess, but I’m pretty sure that if we were to dig into the data, that is what we would see.
Thanks for the comment!