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Toyota Races for No. 1 Spot

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

December 23, 2006

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Toyota Motor Corp. is taking aim at the number one spot in the global auto industry in 2007.

The Japanese automaker announced plans to produce 9.42 million vehicles in 2007, a four percent increase over 2006. The target would send Toyota flying by General Motors as the world's biggest automaker.

GM has not released a production forecast for next year but expects to produce 9.18 million vehicles in 2006. GM scaled back production recently as market share was eroded by Asian automakers.

The news from Toyota arrives as Ford executives have said they are expecting their Japanese rival to take over the numbers two spot in U.S. sales as soon as January 2007. Ford has held the number two sales spot in the U.S. since the early 1920s.

GM is in the midst of a large restructuring effort after running up more than $10.6 billion in red ink last year and $3 billion more the first nine months of this year.

During the same period, Toyota reported record profits and continues to produce top selling cars like the Camry and Corolla.

All is not a rose garden at Toyota however. The automaker is troubled with an increasing number of recalls as the company standardizes parts to cut costs while developing and selling more vehicles at a faster pace.

"There will be no growth without quality," Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe said at a Tokyo news conference. "We would like to continue our efforts to make good products that win support from our customers," he said.

Watanabe said the company was considering adding another plant in North America to keep up with growing demand, although he did not give details.

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