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Ford And General Motors Should Learn From Toyota


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http://seekingalpha.com/article/3963989-ford-general-motors-learn-toyota

Ford And General Motors Should Learn From Toyota
Apr. 8, 2016 9:23 AM ET| About: Ford Motor Company (F), GM, Includes: TM, TOYOF
Shudeep Chandrasekhar
Toyota stands out as a unique player in the U.S. auto industry compared to the homegrown Ford and General Motors.
Both Ford and GM have an equally expansive global footprint matching Toyota's, but is it really the same?
Recessionary resilience is an important mark of a well-run global organization - especially a capital intensive industry like automobiles. What's the missing ingredient in GM and Ford's mix? Ask Toyota.
As US Automakers came out of recession, Ford (NYSE:F) and GM (NYSE:GM) have steadily grown their top line, worked double time to increase profitability in key markets outside the United States, and slowly moved our sentiments about the companies into a positive one. I have written about this extensively in my previous articles, the latest of which was published early Thursday morning: "U.S. Automakers Update: Market Successfully Corrects Its Worst-Case Scenario"
In that article, I also praised both Ford and GM for the things they've done. But everything only seems to be going well as long as you keep your eyes away from their financial statements.
For the past few years, sales have been as good as it gets, figuratively speaking. With average automobile sales in the United States hovering around the 16-17 million mark, both companies have fallen back to their complacent mode; essentially, both have failed to learn the lessons of the recession. Their respective sales and top lines have once again become high-priority items, while fiscal prudence ranks very close to the bottom of the list.
2015 Vehicle Sales of Glo
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Another import fluffer piece. Let not forget the unfair trade practices Asia. Inc enjoy or the advantages of not dealing with UAW Pension obligations.

 

Yes, Detroit had it shares of it's gravesite but with clean books now let's see what Detroit can do.

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Another simpleton analysis. I'm guessing he doesn't understand some structural issues with the US auto industry.

 

Just once, I would like to read an article that says Toyota should be learning from Ford given the dominance of one and the complete failure of the other one in fullsize vans.

 

Why vans? Because it is just as arbitrary as saying Ford should learn from Toyota because Toyota dominates in selling compact cars (not that dominating BTW... Ford and GM still compete there whereas Toyota can't even muster a weak response in vans).

 

Also, looking at the profitability of Toyota without mentioning the weakening yen is burying the lead so to speak.

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Another simpleton analysis. I'm guessing he doesn't understand some structural issues with the US auto industry.

 

Just once, I would like to read an article that says Toyota should be learning from Ford given the dominance of one and the complete failure of the other one in fullsize vans.

 

Why vans? Because it is just as arbitrary as saying Ford should learn from Toyota because Toyota dominates in selling compact cars (not that dominating BTW... Ford and GM still compete there whereas Toyota can't even muster a weak response in vans).

 

Also, looking at the profitability of Toyota without mentioning the weakening yen is burying the lead so to speak.

Or trucks. Toyota spent a butt-load of money on a big plant in TX. I recall quite a few in the media saying that Toyota was now going to take over the 1/2 ton truck market. They could learn a lot from Ford & GM on how to build a 1/2 ton truck.

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Or trucks. Toyota spent a butt-load of money on a big plant in TX. I recall quite a few in the media saying that Toyota was now going to take over the 1/2 ton truck market. They could learn a lot from Ford & GM on how to build a 1/2 ton truck.

They said the same of Nissan trucks and Vans.

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Toyota cant compete with full size trucks, plain and simple. The Coastal Elite analysts predicted that Toyo would 'steal' the big truck market from Big 3, but guess what? NADA!

 

With more buyers getting CUV's, does trying to create a "perfect bland car" to compete with the "old ladies" Camry/Corolla matter anymore? As the loyal Boomers age out, the 'bland, safe, grayscale/beige' car market will shrink.

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The people who predicted that the revamped Toyota Tundra would roll over the Big Three competition forget that when Toyota entered the American market, it didn't directly take on the full-size Chevrolet and Ford. It entered a market where GM and Ford didn't compete.

 

They also forget that the F-Series and Silverado/Sierra are hardly the equivalent of the Ford Pinto and Chevrolet Vega in quality, reliability and overall execution.

 

I will say that Toyota's line-up of crossovers is quite competitive, so if the Corolla and Camry start to wither in sales, Toyota isn't going to be left high-and-dry.

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Actually, Japan has little control of its currency at the moment. They were trying to devalue it recently to help spur inflation to save their economy. However, after three years of pumping money and interest rates in negative territory, their currency has not moved.

 

Currency manipulation has nothing to do with it.

 

One of things that the Japanese government does do is provide significant R&D support to their industry. Toyota's hybrid program wasn't just something it cooked up and took a bath on for 10 years while the industry learned. That's the sort of investment I wish our government could have the nerve and foresight to foster.

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Actually, Japan has little control of its currency at the moment. They were trying to devalue it recently to help spur inflation to save their economy. However, after three years of pumping money and interest rates in negative territory, their currency has not moved.

 

Are you sure about that? After the Fukushima earthquake the Yen went to super high levels that haven't been seen in years (about 75 yen to the dollar at the time) and only in the past year or so has it gone down to the more typical exchange rate of about 110 Yen to the dollar.

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what would happen to the big three today if a similar disaster hit north America and they had to idle all NA plants for a few months and killed customer demand, would they survive?

 

Toyota was able to move production around to other markets to survive.

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Heart gos out to japan and Ecuador....that Pacific Rim of fire is a doozie....no doubt in my mind there will be a few more, perhaps NZ again....it always seems when theres one another follows somewhere else....edit....now Tonga.....amazing to me there was a news article ststing scientists were trying to find out if the quakes were related!!!!!!!!!!! news flash from someone with less education...when one plate moves forces gets re-distributed.....yes they are friggen related....sheesh...

Edited by Deanh
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Currency manipulation has nothing to do with it.

 

I think I'll get Ford's opinion on this:

 

 

The unearned trade subsidy derived from currency manipulation makes Japanese vehicles more competitive around the world – not only in the US, but in every other market where Ford competes. Ford Motor Company can compete against Japanese automakers, but it cannot compete against the Bank of Japan.

 

http://democrats.waysandmeans.house.gov/sites/democrats.waysandmeans.house.gov/files/documents/TPP_Jan7_hearing_v2.pdf

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I'm not even going to begin to get into just how wrong this is....

just to be clear this is a comparison between the Japanese Automakers' resilience after the Tsunami as an example of how much more diversified thatier business model is compared to the Big 3. to that of Us automakers, which derive up to 90% of their profits from one market.

 

Not a wishing of bad things on anyone.

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just to be clear this is a comparison between the Japanese Automakers' resilience after the Tsunami as an example of how much more diversified thatier business model is compared to the Big 3. to that of Us automakers, which derive up to 90% of their profits from one market.

 

Not a wishing of bad things on anyone.

That's not even what I'm saying

 

So suggest that Ford and GM (and even FCA-NA) is solely dependent on Michigan and Ohio couldn't be more wrong

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just to be clear

 

There is absolutely nothing at all clear about any of this.

 

You are comparing a market that is less than a third the size of the US market and shrinking, in which Toyota has a > 40% share, with a market in which no player has more than 20%, and which is by every conceivable metric (income, vehicle type, location, market size, demographic) more diversified than the Japanese market.

 

The MARKETS are not comparable, therefore any comparison that treats the MARKETS as comparable is flawed at its very base.

 

Your premises are flawed and your logic is severely bent.

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just to be clear this is a comparison between the Japanese Automakers' resilience after the Tsunami

If you scale it up to have the same impact on the US as the tsunami had on Japan, I'm thinking economic concerns are going to take a back seat to survival concerns.

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just to be clear this is a comparison between the Japanese Automakers' resilience after the Tsunami as an example of how much more diversified thatier business model is compared to the Big 3. to that of Us automakers, which derive up to 90% of their profits from one market.

 

Not a wishing of bad things on anyone.

My how quickly you forget that Ford Europe was supporting Ford NA during its restructure.

Sure Europe went into decline but looking at Q1 results there shows an impressive rebound.

 

Similarly Asia pacific is looking at being even more positive this year, not sure about South America though..

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