Toyota Motor Company (NYSE: TM) is not only worried about its short-term future, but the futures of about 100 of its U.S. suppliers as well. The automaker offered this tidbit to the automobile task force under President Obama that's currently sizing up whether or not to again help General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) and Chysler from dire straights.Toyota indicated that out of its top 100 U.S. suppliers, about 20 to 30 were in dire condition, and that it had redundancy plans in place should those partners no longer be able to give it the parts needed to make cars. Toyota Motor Sales President Jim Lentz indicated that consumer confidence was also causing the auto purchasing slowdown more than a lack of consumer credit.
In addition to worrying about the viability of parts suppliers, Toyota also stepped up to the plate and indicated it was in support of a unified standard spanning the U.S. for the reduction in greenhouse gases from all automobiles. Lentz went on to say that he expected auto sales levels to return to the pre-car-sales-implosion level of 16 million annually (no timeline given), reciting U.S. population growth more than anything.
That's pretty wishful thinking, Mr. Lentz.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-13-2009 @ 5:35AM
al coholic said...
Although one would think that the return to 16 million auto sales years would be inevitable, I'm not so sure. The average age of autos on the road recently rose from 9.2 years to 9.4 years according to RL Polk & Co.
Not much seems to be written about the amazing durability of cars in general these days. When I first started buying cars in the early sixties it was common to need a valve job at 50,000 miles and a total ring job about 80,000 miles or so. Cars that exceeded 100,000 miles were rare and considered unsafe for travel outside of local trips.
Nowadays you only need to look on Craigs List to see cars with over 200,000 miles being bought up by people who will probably drive them another 50,000 miles. The bottom line is that cars are just not disposable like they used to be because new cars, in addition to being very expensive, pretty much all look the same, and have a lot of hidden extra costs like higher insurance rates, local property taxes, and much higher maintenance expenses.
I see no reason why the average age of autos coldn't rise to twenty five years in the near future.
3-13-2009 @ 7:53AM
cabo79 said...
I think 25 years is a bit much but 15 is not. Also many are waiting to get a car that will do 45 miles at 45 mph on a overnight charge. The hedge funds and speculaters have proved they can run the cost of gas up to where most working people can't afford it. We are a little scared to depend on something as unreliable as the avalibility of gas.