<p>Despite a reputation for making green cars (see “Prius”) Toyota’s profits are down 28% due to the decline for its money-making large vehicles:</p>
<p>[FT.com</a> / Companies / Asia-Pacific - Toyota hit by slump in sale of gas-guzzlers](<a href=“Toyota’s profits tumble 28%”>Toyota’s profits tumble 28%)</p>
<p>Excerpt:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>From another story in the Financial Times:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>EDITED: And from a FT review of the current state of the Big Three of Japan:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The only auto maker doing well (though earnings are still down) is Honda. Toyota makes many gas guzzlers.</p>
<p>Just goes to show it’s not about the reputation, it’s about what you actually sell. They shoulda stuck with their actual green cars like Priuses (did you see there’s a Toyota dealer in VA that will buy back any Prius in good condition at original sticker price to resell?) rather than follow the doomed path of the big gas guzzler companies.</p>
<p>They probably made a nice prfoit in all those years of selling “gas guzzlers”. One year does not a company make and they are well enough positioned in more efficient cars to make the change. My full-size Toyota Avalon easily gets 30 mph highway at 5-10 over the limit speeds.</p>
<p>They’re not losing money, just making less profit. They won’t go bankrupt, but may have to learn to live with lower profit margins because small cars don’t bring in as much money.</p>
<p>Toyota, unlike Honda, is a full-line auto manufacturer (large trucks, large SUVs).</p>
<p>And while Lexus sales are down - Honda would gladly trade Acura (w/ anemic sales) for Lexus.</p>
<p>I don’t think Honda’s attempt at a truck has done very well either.</p>
<p>I wonder if Toyota has started to make any money on the Prius yet. In the past it was rumored Toyota lost money on every one sold. Meanwhile, they likely made large profits on the Lexus line (high markups), their SUVs (like the Land Cruiser and 4-Runner), and their mainstay vehicles.</p>
<p>If they could manufacture enough priuses to sell, I’m sure they could. One of my friends was on a 9 month waiting list to buy one.</p>
<p>^And Yarises (Yari?)! My husband and I bought one of the last two Yaris hatchbacks in the state of MA a few weeks ago – the dealers can’t keep them on the lot.</p>
<p>Good job, Mollie! Congrats, enjoy your new cars! I drove a Yaris sedan as a rental in Boston, and I absolutely loved it.
Yari (?) are hard to locate at the local dealerships as well. If Toyota also learns how to pack them with extra creature comforts, it will be making more money on them. I heard that small cars sold in Europe do make money for the automakers since people tend to buy them with more bells and whistles, not just bare bones models, since in Europe most families own only one vehicle.
The thing that drives me batty about small cars is the plethora of options to choose from. Package A can only be had in combination with a bigger engine, and without Package A you do not get a sunroof. Hello??? Make most of that stuff standard, like automatic door locks and windows! What I liked about buyng a Lexus that there were only two optional pieces of equipment available to choose from - a navigation system and a DVD player/screens for the rear bench passengers. All the other stuff was “standard” (who’d buy their Lexus with cloth seats :rolleyes:). Lexus really researched what their customer base wanted in their cars. Making the decisison was a piece of cake. We spent much more time choosing our Corolla!
Also, Toyota should look for a scooter maker to acquire. It is just mind-boggling how many scooters are parked near my workplace in Seattle!
Ah, the small creatures are taking over the dinosaurs’ turf - long live the evolution!</p>