While the mainstream media has focused on the ills of Detroit automakers, Toyota hasn’t been fairing much better in the first half of 2009. In fact, a sales slump has put the company in a precarious position. Yoshimi Inaba, Toyota USA’s CEO, told reporters yesterday that the company is no longer profitable in North America.
The news is a shock strictly in terms of the transparency coming from Toyota, not in terms of the company’s performance. A sales drop of 38% in the first half of 2009 compared with the same period last year would hurt any automaker, and Toyota is not immune to some of the same factors that have hurt GM and Chrysler.
Two factories — a joint venture in California and a recently built but still unstaffed plant in Mississippi — are question marks right now. Inaba said the company will make decisions on both at some point, but at this time capacity certainly doesn’t warrant either.
The executive also mirrored comments made by others in Toyota’s highest ranks, suggesting that future product will be more exciting in terms of styling and performance.
“Toyota is a good car but not exciting,” Inaba said. “Those are the comments we usually [or] always get."
I don’t think anyone’s going to argue with that statement.
Toyota says it's no longer profitable in North America (Detroit News)
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