Toyota (NYSE: TM) seems to have a newly energized General Motors (NYSE: GM) grabbing for its throat, as the American automaker outpaced Toyota for global sales in the first three quarters of 2007 just as Toyota gained the position of the world's largest automaker after decades losing that title to its American competitor.Add to that a loss of the top spot in auto reliability from Consumer Reports and a large Japanese recall, and Toyota -- which was shining over the summer -- has a few bruises as of late. General Motors is not sitting still, increasing its global presence very aggressively, just when Toyota probably thought it had the Detroit behemoth pinned. Toyota, ever the trendsetter, wants to gain some cachet back by making lighter cars that increase gas mileage even more than its current lineup can. After all, better gas mileage equals more sales in this day and age.
The Japanese automaker is experimenting with carbon fiber and aluminum in more designs to shed excess weight from concept vehicles, probably in an effort to firmly plant itself atop the mountain for cars that travel more and more on less and less gas. Is it a tactic to win more sales against some resurgent competitors or an effort to be an innovator? A little of both, most likely.
Consumers want the space of an SUV without the weight (poor gas economy) or the price, which is where Toyota has shined before. It can't rest on those laurels though, as GM has caught on and will join the race for more gas-efficient cars with lighter metals instead of sacrificing space. This battle has just begun, in other words.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-24-2007 @ 3:23PM
Mankinen said...
For more efficent cars ( Better mileae) a solar panel on the roof would help.
Power a vent fan so the cars a not hot inside when parked and requiring use of the AC on a cool day.
Cars are great green houses and heat to 120 degrees easily.
10-24-2007 @ 3:25PM
Mankinen said...
When I see solar panels on top of cars I will believe they understand how to create a super efficent auto. Also a solar powered fan to vent the car when its parked. ( Available as a accessory on catalogs now.) Will save on energy used by the airconditioning pump when the car is started.
Our Detroit geniuses should get ahead of the curve.
Also I need a intake airfilter for the fumes from the cars in front of me. Especially the desil trucks that are taking over our freeways.
10-24-2007 @ 4:00PM
Gumby said...
Anybody allergic to aluminium?? Anyone?? ALCOA is cheap stock to buy, yet everyone is buying steel stocks... Poor uneducated America!!! We only produce 35 millioin tons of aluminium worldwide anually whle we over produce one billion tons of steel/iron worldwide annually. This just doesnt square up with you steelheadknownothingbums!!
10-24-2007 @ 4:07PM
Gumby said...
We have aluminium wheels, engine heads, engine blocks, suspension arms, tail gate doors, hoods, roofs, and we have more to add per additional smelters that are very slow to come by. That is why we are so busy replacing windows with cheap vinyl windows. So we can recover aluminium from old windows. This will still not be enough to make all cars lighter with aluminium. Maybe we will replace all store front windows with same cheap vinyl frames so we can recover more aluminium from those store fronts. Still this will not be enough to make all cars lighter with aluminium. We still need to mine more bautixe and turn them into alumina then bring them to smelters to make shiny aluminium by millions of tonnes more. Still , there will not be enough to make all cars lighter with aluminium. We need aluminium to save energy and raise MPG to 50 or 60...
10-24-2007 @ 4:30PM
A D said...
Toyotas are getting lighter.
Take the Tundra, the new strategy to make this bomb lighter is simple. As it goes down the road, parts fall off. In this case, it's the tailgate. It's so weak it bends in the middle and them falls off the hinges.
Check out TundraSolutions.com, it's no BS, there's hundreds if not thousands of angry owners.
10-24-2007 @ 6:08PM
A D said...
And now their minivans are getting lighter, the sliding doors are falling off.
Exactly how did Toyota get such a "great" reputation?
Or is it just a myth?