Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

I guess Toyota should have built more hybrids people want to buy ;)


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30637861/

TOKYO - Toyota Motor Corp. lost $7.7 billion (765.8 billion yen) in the January-March quarter — a bigger loss than General Motors reported — resulting in its worst fiscal year since the Japanese automaker was founded in 1937.

Toyota also warned Friday that because of the global auto slump its net loss would deepen in the year through March 2010 to $5.55 billion (550 billion yen) from $4.4 billion (436.94 billion yen) in the just-ended fiscal year.

President Katsuaki Watanabe said the devastating results were caused by “the significant deterioration in vehicle sales particularly in the U.S. and Europe,” the strong yen and the rising cost of raw materials.

The bigger-than-expected quarterly loss — down from a profit of 316.8 billion yen a year ago — was bigger than the full-year loss because it had some positive quarters earlier in the fiscal year.

Throughout much of last year, Toyota’s sales were booming, thanks to its reputation for quality and good mileage, and the popularity of its Camry sedan and Prius hybrid.

It even overtook General Motors Corp. last year to become the world’s biggest automaker by annual sales.

But Toyota’s business has been hit hard by the U.S. financial crisis and credit crunch, which sent ripple effects around the world, causing people to hold off on buying new cars. The red ink for the full year was worse than Toyota’s own forecast for a 350 billion yen net loss, and a stunning reversal from the record profit of 1.72 trillion yen it chalked up the previous fiscal year.

Sales for the fiscal year sank 21.9 percent to 20.529 trillion yen. In the year ahead, Toyota reckons it will sell about 1 million fewer vehicles, with revenues sliding 19.6 percent to 16.5 trillion yen.

Toyota’s quarterly loss even eclipsed GM’s $6 billion in red ink for the same quarter — although the Japanese manufacturer is on far stronger capital footing than GM because of its historical profits. For all of 2008, GM lost $30.9 billion.

Robert Wiseman, professor of business at Michigan State University in East Lansing, said Toyota should emerge in good shape in the long run, and can even hope to benefit from a decrease in price competition in the U.S. as rivals weaken.

“Toyota continues to have a very strong positive brand reputation among North American buyers,” he said. “I would expect all global car manufactures to report a loss this fiscal year since car sales are way down.”

Standard and Poor’s on Friday lowered its long-term credit rating on Toyota one notch to AA — its third-highest rating — and gave a “negative” outlook. But S&P also said the automaker “maintains a minimal financial risk profile, characterized by a strong capital structure with massive liquidity.”

Toyota was likely to face hard times for awhile because demand will likely remain depressed into 2010 before it could hope to again count on its strengths to boost profits once a recovery arrives, S&P said in a statement.

turnaround is likely to take time.

To cut costs, Toyota has been slashing managerial pay and offering buyouts to thousands of American workers. It has reduced the number of temporary workers in Japan from 9,200 last year to 3,000.

The manufacturer is expecting its operating loss — reflecting its core automaking business — to worsen to 850 billion yen for the year through March 2010 from 461 billion yen this past year.

“It appears to take some more time before the financial markets in the U.S. and Europe normalize and the global economy recovers,” Watanabe said.

Toyota’s vehicle sales for the fiscal year ended March 31 fell 15.1 percent to 7.57 million vehicles from 8.91 million vehicles the previous year. It expects to sell even fewer vehicles in the fiscal year through March 2010 — 6.5 million vehicles.

Wiseman, the MSU professor, says Toyota should prepare for an eventual recovery.

“What Toyota can do as it waits for the economy to turn around is invest in the next generation of vehicles and work on improving quality control in its production facilities,” he said.

To send a message of change, Toyota has turned to its founding family roots, tapping Akio Toyoda, the founder’s grandson, who at 53 is relatively young for leading a major conservative Japanese company.

Watanabe, whom Toyoda is succeeding in June, promised Friday more cost reduction and a focus on hybrids and compact vehicles to boost profitability. Toyota will work on ecological technology such as hybrids and plug-in vehicles toward long-term recovery, Watanabe said.

The last time Toyota had the equivalent of a net loss was in 1950, when it reported results under different accounting standards than it uses now.

Its shares fell 1.5 percent to 3,980 yen in Tokyo trading. Earnings were announced after the market closed.

Toyota is unveiling the remodeled, third-generation Prius hybrid later this month. But it is expected to be embroiled in intense competition with Japanese rival Honda Motor Co., which has already come out with a cheaper hybrid, the Insight.

Yasuaki Iwamoto, auto analyst with Okasan Securities Co., said Toyota must wait for overall industry woes to settle, but also must work on cut costs and develop cheap small cars.

“It must keep working on small cars to build toward the future,” he said.

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

I bet they're the only car company losing money. :rolleyes:

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

Everyone is feeling this economy, not just the big 3 and thats no secret. You don't hear about foreign manufacturers as much because they aren't asking the US govt for money. Thats why the big 3 are news and the foreign companies aren't.

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

toyota received over 70 billion from japan last year. did it make our news?

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

Why would it? Do we get a news report on everything other countries spend money on when it doesn't affect us? Why should foreign auto makers be any different?

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

I guess the Japanese market is not impervious to car sales decline.

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

/thread

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

Link?

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

i bet it did in japan, where people gives a fuck.

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

http://money.cnn.com/2009/03/03/auto...ion=2009030307

http://www.businessweek.com/autos/au...a_wants_a.html

they applied for a loan back in march for $2 billion (or 200billion yen). Don't know if they got it yet.

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

$2 billion is quite a far cry from $70 billion.

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

i took from the article that Toyota is going to focus on making even more boring cars than they already do. I heard they were trying to hire the chief designer at Maytag.

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

He's probably referring to the fact Toyota received millions from the Japanese government to fund the development of its hybrids. Something the Japanese government denies but insiders say is fact. Still wasn't $70 billion, but a huge advantage for them.
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/car...ess-prius.html

It shouldn't really be a shock to anyone except sack riding fanbois like you. Japan's auto industry has always been built around domestic protectionism with hefty tariffs to foreign makers trying to sell in Japan.

The Japanese government was ready to step in and help Mitsubishi Motors when it was on the verge of collapse and Chrysler wasn’t willing to give them any more money because Mitsubishi’s sales had continued to decline. The decline was a direct result of a huge scandle where Mitsubishi was covering up major defects with their cars over the last 30 years which had resulted in the deaths of people on Japan.

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

So when can we expect huge reductions in Toyota MSRP's?

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

No, the UAW is simply the reason they can't have stick piles of money set aside or change their model line up as frequently as they would like. Something Toyota CAN do and GM / Ford can't.

Could you imagine if the workers at the Honda factories in the US told Honda they would only be allowed to import 18,000 cars from Japan annually or they would walk out on strike? Because that’s what the UAW told GM over the GTO.

Now honestly tell me that isn't damaging to the way a CEO & Board can run their business efficiently.

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

You watch fox news don't you?

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

Oh how I love internet political debates. They are always so constructive and always have a great ending where both sides agree.

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

:D

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

This is very true. I don't think Japan would allow GM to open a plant to manufacturer the cars it plans to sell in Japan and allow GM to not pay import taxes.

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

anything else would be ludicrous

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

The Big 3 are losing money because they build shitty cars that nobody wants to buy.

Toyota is losing money because of the economy.

:rolleyes:

At least that's what the beautiful people tell me.

and lol@Toyota for losing more money than anybody else.

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

You've missed the point once again. The point is that many politicians and the generally misinformed are lambasting GM for being poorly run and building shitty cars that nobody wants to buy. Here's a prime example of the company that was supposed to "have it right" hurting badly... worse than GM for Q1 in fact.

GM is hurting not because they make bad cars, but because they got caught in a recession w/o enough cash on hand to weather it.

I like GM's new commercials with Howie Long and the "they" "everybody" etc. people.

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

Stimulus and bailout packages are nothing new to japan in fact, its something we are kinda following in their footsteps on. :(

http://agmetalminer.com/2009/02/10/s...mulus-package/

i know its not an article about toyota specifically, but the point is that the idea that japanese auto makers (toyota specifically) would ask for and or take government money isnt a big surprise.

just look at TRD for a second and compare that to Nismo and Mugen, toyota took all the fun out of their brand and for what? reliability and economy? LOL they dont sell a single sports car and they are most known for the PRIUS, which when it all boils down to it, people like the gas numbers, but unless ur constantly on the road (locally) or your hippie/tree hugger, you wouldnt look twice at it.

and the people that bought camry's and grocery getters a couple of years ago are lookin for something to fill that mid life crisis void. not that everyone is trying to buy a sports car, but there is a major element of flash and cool associated with your go-fast line.

i always get a chuckle out of those commercials! cuz for the most part, people buy hondas over chevy's cuz they dont wanna end up on the side of the road in 2 years not cuz of gas mileage. not to mention the fact that the cobalt looks like the new school geo metro. lol

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

^ Awesome how the Cobalt SS holds the ring record for a FWD car. Plus the new Malibu is an awesome car.

People buy Hondas because Honda did a great job of creating a perception of quaility. Read the real warranty claim data and you'll see that GM is every bit as good as Honda/Toyota in terms of quality and reliability.

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

Indeed.

The value of a GM vehicle is excellent and is right of there with any other vehicle, foreign or domestic.

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

And people don't buy GM cars because they have created a reputation for being crap. I'll admit that when I worked on a new Malibu it was decent - it was also brand new. Get back to me in 5-6 years.

You talk about how Honda has built a perception of quality - they did that by building quality cars. GM may be starting to come around but a few decent models does not negate years of Cavaliers, Luminas and Monte Carlos that were crap.

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

You're correct, and they have acknowledged that and that's the precise reason why they are in this predicament today.

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

Yeah, the economy sucks worldwide for the most part. Everyone is losing money, you just arn't hearing about other countries as much as it doesn't effect our economy as much as the big 3's problems do.

Hopefully everything turns around for everyone. Soon.

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

Last time I heard, Toyota had a BRAND NEW plant in Texas, which cost them a boat load of money, sitting doing nothing because they got quite unlucky with the timing for the launch of the Tundra and Sequoia. I don't believe I've ever said that only American car companies were going to lose money in this climate.

I'm still waiting for the proof from the guy tossing around the "$70B" figure on the first page.

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

notice i didnt say the cobalt was slow. its fast, but speed doesnt change how it looks. :p

ur prolly right about GM's being as good now as any foreign make. im just not willing to take the chance to find out. problem is that people dont forget history especially when history happened to them or someone they know. we had over 30 years of shitty american production... 1975-2005+/- thats tough to recover from. 30 years is a lot of time to burn some people! the same concept applies to hyundai. they look better, and are more reliable, but still a hyundai

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

So as long as it looks fast thats good enough for you?

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

This is true, I remember every rusted out, underpowered, non undercoated Toyota and Nissan with tail lights full of water I ever rode in as a kid. Quality stuff.

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

lol

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

Toyota has almost the lowest "rebates" of any auto maker


+1



I work for toyota, ford, chevrolet and mercury as a controller. I get every but of information out from these auto makers, toyota received "up to" 70 billion from the japanese gov't throughout the last 18 months. It could have been 100 bucks or it could have been 68 billion. They will not release a official number and the gov't there will not even admit they help them. As far as the big 3 go for whoever was bashing american cars, have you checked ford stock lately? Have you seen the reports and satifaction indexs'? Ford is in good shape to stay through this time and has enough liquid cash to last until almost 2011 if nothing changes.




/ thread

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

High five on having a source that none of the other media (both international and domestic) seem to have :rolleyes:

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

its not a source its the published information that toyota puts out, idk if it is public or not but i am sure you can get it simply by searching it. I have no kind of "car clearance" so i am sure it can be found it happend in jan of 2008 for "UP TO" 70b

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

You'd think if the info was out there, google could find it, but for some reason they can't...

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

I could really care less if they go becouse Ford is the biggest part of my check. Here is a link to the most recent request and I can not find the other, its not that important. I saw it on www.drudgereport.com probably about 16-20 months ago Also "up to" 70 is the key word. Not a big deal just saying they are not in great shape at all. The average quarterly inventory (toyota only) is about 33,000 units, this quarter my region was slated 8900 units. They are slowing production and the frame on the tundra is about to be recalled due to rust. But i guess if google doesnt say it its not true.



http://www.newser.com/story/52285/to...campaign=story

Re: Toyota loses $7.7 billion in Q1
 

LMAO + rep