Toyota: The New #3

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Last year, Toyota was the #1 car company in the US, a title which it took from GM the year before, and most industry watchers expected that Toyota would continue in that position for perpetuity, its ironclad reputation and reliability propelling it forward with the momentum of a battleship going downhill. One year later, Toyota is no longer #1. It's no longer #2. It's #3.

Here's how the numbers break down this year:
  1. Ford: 1,155,713
  2. Chevy: 1,052,773
  3. Toyota: 1,018,664

Compare that with how the brands finished last year:

  1. Toyota: 1.55 million
  2. Ford: 1.44 million
  3. Chevy: 1.33 million
Yeah. Two interesting stories here. First is that Toyota fell. The second is the rise of Ford. Ford has been making some impressive new cars (though I think that the Taurus should be selling better than it has) and has been charging hard. The funny part about all this? Ford has been following the Toyota model: have only a couple brands (Ford sold Land Rover, Jaguar, Volvo, and has killed of Mercury, leaving Ford, and Lincoln), focus on key models in each segment rather than the shotgun approach of GM (think Camry vs Chevy Impala, Chevy Malibu, Saturn Aura, Pontiac Grad Prix, Buick LaCrosse), and make global cars (the new fiesta, like the Corolla, will be global, and soon the fusion and european mondeo will be the same car).

So Ford is out-Toyotaing Toyota. Now they just need to make sure they don't lie to customers and cover up defects.

Comments

  1. Georgia Drivers EdSeptember 22, 2010 at 12:24 AM

    It's not a big surprise for us, Toyota recalling for defects effected a lot to the brand, but it's very impressive that Toyota still able to get the 3 spot in sales, even figure also showing their not much difference between the spot #2 and #3 so we can expect Toyota can able to manage the it's reputation and may get top #2 spot by next year. off course to do so Toyota need to put lot of efforts but hope it will do.

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