More bad news for Japanese auto maker Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), with the company announcing that it was recalling around 600,000 Sienna minivans sold in the United States.

The latest in a string of safety concerns involves potentially rusted spare tire cables that could break, allowing the minivan's spare tire to bust loose and tumble into the road.

Continue reading Sienna Minivans Join the Toyota Recall List

Sienna Minivans Join the Toyota Recall List originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 17 Apr 2010 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Toyota Suspends Sale of Lexus SUV over Safety Concerns

Toyota Suspends Sale of Lexus SUV over Safety Concerns originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 14 Apr 2010 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of a special report, Top Picks for 2010, the 27th annual survey in which TheStockAdvisors.com asks the nation's leading advisors for their single favorite stock for the new year. See all 80 stocks listed here.

"Moviegoers represent a captive audience that can't change the channel or block a pop-up ad," observes value investor Nathan Slaughter.

In his Half-Priced Stocks, he suggests, "We expect more companies than ever before to spend ad dollars on theater ads, leading to a banner year for National CineMedia (NCMI)."

Continue reading Top Picks for 2010: National CineMedia (NCMI)

Top Picks for 2010: National CineMedia (NCMI) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Toyota to recall around 3.8 million vehicles

Toyota to recall around 3.8 million vehicles originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

	Deflation rolls on as Manhattan apartment sales see huge drop
	Looks like the Fed acted just in the nick of time
	Oil tops $50 on belief that Fed's actions will stimulate economy
	Rare good news for GM as Buick tops Lexus in quality

DailyFinance today: GM tops Lexus in quality, oil tops $50, did Fed act in nick of time, and Manhattan deflation rolls on originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

One of the few hopes the U.S. car companies have had is that they have been perceived as closing the quality gap with Japanese models. Recent JP Power data shows Detroit running in a dead heat with imports in the consumer satisfaction race.

That bubble has been at least partially burst due to new information from the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index. According to the AP, "U.S. car buyers are growing less satisfied with their purchases from domestic automakers while their Asian and European competitors continue to improve."

In the new survey, BMW and Lexus tied for the top spot followed by Honda (NYSE: HMC) and Toyota (NYSE: TM). Several brands from GM (NYSE: GM) and Ford (NYSE: F) dropped down the rankings.

At the risk of stating the obvious, Detroit is in such deep trouble that a perceived drop in the quality of its cars can only make its recovery more difficult. There are several ways around that, but none of them are very palatable.

GM yesterday introduced buyer incentives across most of its brands. That means its margins on those vehicles will be lower. It may pick up some market share, but any victory there will be costly. The U.S. car companies are cutting their marketing budgets, so they cannot "advertise" their way out of the problem.

Effectively giving cars away can certainly help hurdle the quality barrier, but losing a lot more money could sink a large U.S. auto company.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Sentiment of U.S. car quality goes negative originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In a bow to the power of the weak U.S. dollar, AP reports that Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) is raising prices on some of its lower-priced cars. A weak dollar relative to the Yen puts downward pressure on earnings for Toyota since sales in dollars get translated into fewer Yen -- the currency in which Toyota reports earnings.

So, Toyota is trying to raise prices on its more popular, higher gas mileage models in the U.S. figuring it will lose less market share because of the strong demand as consumers -- sickened by paying so much of their income for gasoline as it powers through $4 a gallon -- scramble for Toyota's more fuel-efficient vehicles.

AP reports that Toyota's price increases, which will start in the middle of May, include a hike of $200 on the 2008 Yaris sedan, which will cost $12,425. The 2009 Camry will go up $200 to $18,920. The hybrid Camry, introduced as a 2007 model in late 2006, will cost $300 more, at $25,650. For example, the price of the Lexus IS 350 entry sports sedan will rise $300 to $36,305. However, the pricing of the 2008 Lexus IS F high-performance sports sedan won't change.

Continue reading Toyota to raise prices thanks to strong Yen

Toyota to raise prices thanks to strong Yen originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 07 May 2008 10:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Are the rich spending less for luxury cars?

Are the rich spending less for luxury cars? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As the saying goes, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em -- or at least hire 'em to join you. Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) announced late yesterday that it has hired James D. Farley as its new marketing chief. Until recently, Farley was a VP at Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) and general manager of Toyota's luxury Lexus division. Before heading Lexus, he helped launch Scion, Toyota's successful new brand aimed at youthful buyers.

The Detroit News, which covers the car industry like a hungry dog on a juicy ham bone, has this to say: "It's hard to overstate the symbolism of Farley's appointment by Ford. That a rising Toyota star, the head of Lexus and a founder of its Scion youth brand would bolt the Japanese juggernaut for the struggling Blue Oval is a testament to Mulally's leadership, the strength of Ford's current lineup, the promise of its future products and the upside in it all."

Ford is not the first American car company to raid the world's leading auto producer. A month ago, Chrysler snagged James Press, the top-ranking Toyota executive in North America who joined the Chrysler Group as Vice Chairman and President. And it hired Deborah Wahl Meyer, the former head of marketing for Lexus, to be its chief marketing officer.

Ford (F) hires top Lexus (TM) exec originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 12 Oct 2007 10:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and watch out for more Battle of the Brands posts.

The sad part about this subject is watching these two companies going in almost opposite directions -- at least for now. General Motors General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) has a current market capitalization of $18 billion versus the behemoth Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) with a massive market capitalization of $236 billion, over 13 times bigger than GM. Yet on the surface one would never guess these numbers as their revenues are fairly close in comparison: GM for 2007, estimates revenues of $173 billion, and Toyota's at $200 billion.

It's what's underneath the hood that distinguishes these companies.

Toyota has just come off a five-year period of growth in its per-share earnings at 26% per year, an astounding accomplishment for such a large company. General Motors has experienced flat to negative earnings per share growth over the same five-year period. Toyota is opening new plants, both in Japan and the U.S., to handle demand, while General Motors is closing plants to save costs and resources.

Toyota has set itself apart as the undisputed world leader with the hybrid auto: half combustible engine, half battery powered. The hybrids are still at a price premium to comparable standard combustible, gasoline-powered models, but they will close that gap over the next two or three years. The hybrids come in luxurious lines of the Camry, the Highlander SUV, and the Lexus RX series, as well as the economical Prius model. GM has yet to enter the hybrid field in a serious way.

Continue reading General Motors vs. Toyota: Battle of the Brands

General Motors vs. Toyota: Battle of the Brands originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 08 Apr 2007 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Someone put hallucinogenics into the drinking water at General Motor Corp. (NYSE:GM). The big car maker's Buick unit announced that it believes it can get up to 40% of its new customers for the Enclave crossover SUV from Acura and Lexus.

Acura is owned by Honda Motor (NYSE:HMC) and Lexus is part of Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE:TM), and both have owned GM in market share for several years now.

Acura's recent growth in the U.S. market has been fueled by sales of its SUVs and crossovers. Of course, they plan to willingly give a large portion of this market to Buick.

Lexus also showed sales gains in October. As part of the world's most successful car company, the luxury brand is also likely to hand market share to Buick so that the GM unit can do better.

Recent sales at Buick have not even kept pace with GM's overall numbers. In October GM's total unit sales rose almost 22%. Buick was up a little over 15%.

There is something to be said for hoping to take shares from rivals that are doing better, but telling the press and the competition about it?

Well.

Douglas McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

General Motors: Hallucinations at Buick originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 13 Nov 2006 13:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.