"Because the automobile industry has such a broad base, its effect on others is widely felt. Believing that the sooner the better, our entire company has been working to bring production back to normal, " said Akio Toyoda after the tsunami tragedy.
Toyota Motor Corporation – TMC – is predicting that its calendar year 2012 sales will increase by 20% to almost 8.5 million units, which could allow Toyota to return to the Number One sales title that it held for the past three years, but lost in 2011 as natural disasters wreaked havoc on its plants and interrupted production.
Both General Motors Company and Volkswagen Group, at more than 8 million vehicles each, will outsell Toyota’s 2011 sales tally of fewer than 8 million in a record global market of 75 million vehicles.
The battle for the global sales title will likely continue for the next few years as TMC’s 2013 projection is for sales 8.95 million vehicles. Volkswagen has set a target of 10 million vehicles by 2018, which would be an all time record for any automaker.
Earlier in December TMC drastically cut its fiscal year 2012 forecast (though 31 March 2012) based on the ongoing negative effects of the strong Yen and the production disruptions caused by Thailand floods and the Japan earthquake and tsunami. As a result, Toyota has revised down its 2012 full year profit forecast by -¥250 billion to ¥200 billion. See Toyota Cuts 2012 Forecast as Yen and Thailand Floods Hurt
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
