Toyota Surpasses GM As World's Top Automaker For First Time

GM, Ford, and Chrysler it is your move now. It is true Toyota has had more recalls in recent years, but Toyota makes more money than any of them.

This thread is talking about Toyota sales not Lexus. Are you saying Lexus is a Toyota? : ). I thought it would be a sin to have the two brands mentioned in the same sentence.

Face it, Toyota makes mass production cars world wide and Lexus makes mass produced luxury cars for the majority the US Market. But they are not as exclusive as the European brands. That is why on an exclusivity level Toyota(Lexus) can not compete with that. On another note Toyota is more of an eco brand. Lexus is priced much lower than its competition therefore it's more economical to own a Lexus than a Mercedes/BMW/Audi. Money for value Lexus is great and that's why they excel here in North America.

As for the German brands they are less common which means more exclusive plus the European prestigiousness people really admire. Lexus is japanese luxury not European luxury. In today's society people still view European cars higher than Japanese. I love Japanese cars though, G35, TL, GS but the prestige factor isn't as high as a Germans and for those outside of the US who love the expensive luxury barges a Lexus would be the last thing on their mind.

German brands less common? They are very common in North America. They will be going more downmarket with the introduction of less expensive vehicles into the market (1 series, B Class). Lexus is not planning to introduce lower end cars.

Agent 63, how are the Germans more exclusive. They're priced pretty much the same as Lexus, they're just as easily accesible. I don't see your point?

Wait now, When they mention a car company like General Motors, they are talking about all of their brands (GMC, Chevy, Saab, Saturn, Pontiac, Buick, etc.) hence calling it GENERAL MOTORS CORP.S

So if Lexus King says Toyota and Lexus, they are considered one along with Scion in TOYOTA MOTOR CORP..

So what are you harping about Agent 63, is he not right when he says Lexus and Toyota together.

I may not agree with ruling the world, but they are moving in position to top the U.S market.

Someone should change Agent63's name so no one associates him with one of the moderators on this website...unless you are...which is just a shame.

If you knew your history, which you obviously don't, you'd see why taxi companies prefer Mercedes. Taxi fleets went to Mercedes, not the other way around.

David999....wait for the 1 Series and B Merc to be out on the market, and Lexus will soon follow....they have since the day of their birth.

Taxi fleets were given Benzes as war reparations, and they decided to stick with them.

YES, LEXUS CONQUERS ALL! you speak the purest truth, my holy LEXUS brother!!!!!!!!!!!!


Mmm... Lexus...

GOO LEXUS!!!! This is because LEXUS has been helping the mighty TOYYOTA GODS with their world domination!!!!!!

Mmm... LexussexytoyotamoneyparkeightspeedtransmissionLEDheadlightsreliabilityquality!!!!!!

More like Toyota has been helping Lexus.

dohc106,All of Toyota's recalls have been voluntary,which means that Toyota has found the problems and chose to improve them before they caused a major accident and without the government saying to do so.Now "mandatory" government recall like many other companies have is a big difference!!!
I work for Toyota and some of the recalls are so stupid like the seat belt bezel on the Sienna and the child safety switch being to long on the Highlander,and ect...

Congrats to Toyota!

I have to agree with 2JZSoarer, majority of all their re-calls were voluntary. If you think about it, globally speaking GM has about 10 to 12 subsidaries(divisions), oppose to Toyota only have 3. And it only takes this much to dethrone GM??? At this point...it sucks to be them.

Good job Toyota. I wonder if there is going to be any backlash against Toyota in the minds of American consumers. I know GM is not going to take this lightly. But, this only means that competition is going to heat up and it is going to get good. Though, it does bother me that Toyota is kind of dancing around the fact they are #1, just come out and say it already.

"(Toyota and) Lexus makes mass produced cars for the majority of the US Market"

This is why ToyLex is so successful, they market first then build what sells. They tend not to worry about passion, innovation, driving dynamics, magic feel, etc. Its more about selling as many cars first and if that means producing relatively safe superficial designs with little excitment then congrats to them. Lexus unfortunately gets lumped into the Toyota camp and their image becomes one. The Europeans tend to have a very rigid design and engineering philosphy that keeps them moving in a direction and generally it doesnt change drastically with fads or trends. I think thats what keeps fans loyal to those brands as they appear more exclusive, the fans of ToyLex are happy with pure financial and volume success, differt certainly. Congrats Toyota for producing more cars than anyone.

So based on people's logic that the less car an automaker makes, the more "prestigous" the car becomes, shouldn't Lexus be a really really really prestigous brand in Europe just because they sell less than BMW or MB?

I don't think so because Lexus is considered to be an upscale brand of Toyota Motor Corp, hence no real exclusivity. Even considering this thread as soon as Toyota is mentioned Lexus is immediately part of the mix, you can't separate the two easily.

Exclusivity does not automatically equal prestigiousness, as much as I may have argued it did in the past. It does however, equal "underdog" status which is always a good thing in my opinion.

YES, LEXUS CONQUERS ALL! you speak the purest truth, my holy LEXUS brother!!!!!!!!!!!!


Mmm... Lexus...

Toyota i can assure you is not jumping for joy. The Japan auto makers are always worried about a North American backlash of their cars. This kind of worry is most likely unfounded in the 21st century of doing world wide busines but still they worry about it.
They will downplay themselves and be careful not to gloat about this unbelievable turn of poorly made cars back in the 70's to the world's biggest car maker hats off to them and Japan and Korea makers.
If the US auto industry like the electronic and furniture makers want this country to be just a importer which it is now they did a good job of fooling us all, They floated idea was about the UAW and rankin file but in the end it was about poorly made product and service,,overpaid higher ups, and not lisyening to the most important commidity the public.
Cheaper labor and favorable govt agency's gave the Far East courage to move forward world wide, and they listen to consumers in America also we can build cars the world wants didn't hurt either.
The US has become a lazy country of i got mine so see if you can get yours, the brightest minds are not working in the best interest of this nation they can make a heck of a lot more moving overeseas and then selling it back to the US consumer.
Thanks GM,Ford and Chrysler, you did a fine job of retooling your plants and bringing to market cars the world wants thanks a lot NOT!!!

Get your fact straight, the king of 2006 recall list is on this website. Do a search and you will see that GM recall almost 90% of new vechicle they have sold in 2006.

Toyota recall many of their car, but when compare the number new vechicles being sold, it was way......far less than that.

Don't belief me do a search on this website, post name "The 2006 King of Recall list" and find out for yourself. Please some research you post, because it really make you look stupid when you post the wrong infor.

good job toyota, but this is no surprise. just wondering when nissan and honda are going to pass GM.

I belief Honda is in the fourth spot right now; but not sure about Nissan.

No suprises here. Toyota has a fresh portfolio of cars out on the market right now (save the Corolla) and they are not bad when comparing them to GMs cars. GM is about to have their new vehicles premier, so it will be an itersting fight or race to see how all this plays out in the months and years to come.

Mmm... Lexus...

LEXUSLEXUSLEXUSLEXUSLEXUSLEXUSLEXUSLEXUSLEXUSLEXUSLEXUSLEXUSLEXUSLEXUSLEXUSLEXUSLEXUSLEXUSLEXUSLEXUSLEXUS

Congradulations to Toyota! Toyota is where GM once was in the 60s-70s. This is going to set GM's executives to even more complications. Eyes are on GM to see weather they can bring themselves up or fall into a disaster.

On a small note, Lexus was designed for the American market first. Which is why it has the most sales, taking customers from cadillac, bmw, mercedes at the time (M.Y. 1989-1994). Obviously European have been far too used to Mercs, BMWs and Audis as theyre luxury choices since those brands were marketed in Europe first. So yes, Toyota owes a significant amount to Lexus for its sales.

atomicbri: "David999....wait for the 1 Series and B Merc to be out on the market, and Lexus will soon follow....they have since the day of their birth."


LMAO!!!

WHY would lexus ever need to do that? TOYOTAs can compete against the germans in their own right. for that matter, even SCIONs can, if they bring out more models like the tC.

on quality of build and reliability, the CHEAPEST toyota product betters ANY german car. the germans' success hinges MERELY on PERCEIVED quality and ambiguous prestige, which is fading slowly away.

except for magic feel (highly overrated except WITHIN the enthusiast community ONLY) a loaded up TOYOTA Avalon will compare favorably with any 6 cyl euro car. and it will FAR SURPASS them in quality and reliability.

how many 4 banger models are offered by audi, bmw, and mb? lexus has NEVER made nor offered a 4. ALL their cars are 6s and v8s. and/or HYBRIDS, which technology the germans have YET to master.

LOL!

You never back up your comments with anything... everything you write is completely opinionated, but you pass it off as fact.

For example:

"the germans' success hinges MERELY on PERCEIVED quality and ambiguous prestige, which is fading slowly away."

In fact, substitute "Toyota's" for "the germans'." Doesn't look too wrong, does it? That's because, IMO, it isn't. TOYOTA is the brand whose quality is gradually slipping, whose image is up in the air; TOYOTA is the brand that has been selling many of its recent cars based on the notion that their "quality" is superior. As of late, they haven't done a great job backing that notion up.

What the hell do you mean, they haven't "mastered" HYBRIDS?!! Since Toyota started producing hybrids, they've still been making diesel, since that's what has been working for them! Three or four of them are going to come out with hybrids- though I don't endorse the idea, why don't you judge THOSE before you make false predictions? And, consider how TOYOTA can't get the diesel engine right! Look at the pathetic IS220d!

This is just one of the dumbest comments ever. I don't feel like arguing with the rest of it.

perceptions: 1) mb still considered a "quality brand," despite the fact that CR recommends all of ZERO mbs due to reliability issues.
2) nobody can match the magic feel of the germans. the CR road tests, the most comprehensive and OBJECTIVE of any popular periodical, give mb and bmw a 77 score. honda gets 78. audi 81.
3) toyota's rep ONLY perceived? than how do you account for the figures of problems per 100 cars, over TEN YEARS? (NOT the piddly 90 day or even 36 months.)

vw/audi: 175. toyota: 65.

on the hybrid vs. diesel debate: the market in u.s./asia has not SUBSIDIZED diesel fuel as in europe. so OF COURSE the germans have concentrated on diesel cars.
but even the head of DCX has proposed having a HYBRID option for EVERY model offered. when even the "masters of diesel" get interested in hybrids, it MUST have benefits that are undeniable. the reverse is NOT necessarily true.

AFTER 10 years, rather than over.



further, competing vehicles are ONLY this old, when they have the problem rates of 10-year old toyotas:

honda: 7.5
nissan: 6
euro brands: 5 or less
ford: 4 - 5
chrysler: 3.6
gm: 3.3

these figures just by themselves, can explain why toyota is now #1. and will likely STAY THERE until reliability/durability figures change significantly over the NEXT 5 - 10 years.

wow i knew that was going to happen lol, nothing new

the NEXT 5-10 years a certain "brand" sales is going to jump WORLDWIDE LMAO "we got money to burn" well see who will be exclusive,

i wonder if they going to make hybrid taxi in the US like other "exclusive brands"

Nice job Toyota!

,,,

correction to chart above:

only ONE euro brand is listed on the chart, vw. it equals the problem rate of 10 yr. old toyotas in a mere 3 years. even worse than gm.

the other euro brands are NOT charted. possibly because not enuff owners who KEEP the cars for 10 years responded to the CR survey. wonder why?

i have a theory that there is a huge MOMENTUM in toyota/lexus sales.

because the cars are so reliable and long-lived, rather than trade every 3-5 years as owners of other brands often do, most toyota owners keep their cars and don't trade until 8-10-12+ years have gone by. (some, esp. lexus owners, may trade more often, just to get something newer.)

so there is a far LARGER POOL of older toyotas in the national fleet, and the slow turnover initially SLOWED new car sales. but now, despite the slow turnover, the sheer size of the owner pool is finally driving ever larger new toyota sales. (along with new to toyota buyers of course)

so, while sales figures for everyone goes up and down, toyota has the BIG MO' driving it further, thru good times and bad.





new toyota owners

...are also drawn to the brand by word of mouth and/or their own experience with less reliable brands.

so the large pool of OLD toyota owners also INFLUENCES others to follow their heads rather than hearts, and SAVE BIG MONEY on long term car ownership costs too.

in economic recessions, toyota thus suffers less than the other companies. the figures back this up. ESPECIALLY in truck sales.