Toyota Set To Become Worlds Largest Car Manufactur

[Fidgits]

General Motors is to slash 30,000 blue-collar jobs and close five factories, all in the US -- and lose its coveted position as the world's biggest carmaker in the process.

Following years of over-capacity in the industry, and GM's well-publicised, massive pensions bill, the aim is to cut capacity by 800,000 units to 4.2 million vehicles a year by 2008. The company reckoned that its plants are running at 85 per cent capacity right now, and GM lost $4.1 billion last year in the US alone.

The upshot of GM's loss of capacity is that it's highly likely that Toyota will occupy the symbolically important position as the world's biggest carmaker by next year or 2007. It's the first time for 70 years that GM has not been number 1.

BBC story on the job cuts

[Karma Supra]

Make crap cars for years on end, and accept the consequences!!!

Rover Did!!

[Bibbs]

Bin the corsa and vectra .. make quality, reliable cars and there would be no problems.

[Fidgits]

I actually think the problem is more to do with their reliance on large, antiquanted SUV's...

With the increase in gas prices, consumers are moving away from the traditional gas guzzling trucks... and as with the late 70's, the American car makers cannot react, whereas the japanese are all set to take more of the market again...

(if you remember, the oil crisis of the late 70's was how the japanese got a foothold in the US market to begin with)

[Leeky]

I always thought Ford were the biggest after GM?

Ford own Mazda, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Volvo etc

Toyota ownly have Lexus and thoses obscure japanese companies.

Surely Ford will be the biggest after GM drop.

[Fidgits]

nope - AFAIK they dropped behind Toyota a few years ago...

[Leeky]

nope - AFAIK they dropped behind Toyota a few years ago...

←

Fair doos :)

[Fidgits]

This seems to say the same...

Toyota Motor Corp. is quickening its quest to unseat ailing rival General Motors Corp. as the world’s biggest automaker with reported plans to start manufacturing up to 100,000 Toyota vehicles at a Subaru factory in Indiana.

Word of Toyota’s ramped-up production schedule comes just days after money-losing GM said it will close 12 facilities by 2008 in a move that will slash the number of vehicles it is able to build in North America by about 1 million a year.

The combined developments could help the Japanese automaker surpass GM in worldwide production, although it’s unclear if that could happen because Detroit-based GM is growing rapidly in Asia.

Both GM and Ford Motor Co., the world’s third-biggest automaker, are seeing their U.S. market share dwindle at the expense of Toyota and other Asian competitors. Toyota, Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. are all reporting healthy earnings bolstered by their reputation for well-built, fuel-efficient cars at a time of surging gas prices.