Although Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) has created specific marketing companies to help it stir up more consumer interest in vehicle purchases in the U.S., the world's largest automobile company now wants to spend as much as $1 billion in the fourth quarter of this year to bump up sales as much as possible.

Not only that, but the auto company is adding two more hybrid Prius models and is enhancing the margins its dealers receive. Will all of this add up to a large rise in Q4 sales for the automaker? As signs continue to sprout up that the economic recession is nearing an end, customers may start flocking to non-U.S. cars in Q4 now that the "Cash for Clunkers" parade has ended gas efficiency continues to top of the lists of customers shopping for a new car this fall and winter.

Although Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) has bypassed the now-out-of-bankruptcy General Motors as the largest automaker in the world, many of its cars in the U.S. market are, well, boring. It's true that fuel efficiency is now top-of-mind on the U.S. auto buyer's agenda, but the love for fast sports cars has never gone away. It's just been suppressed.

The new Camaro from GM is proof -- it's affordable, sexy, and a true sports car in its modern glory. It is amazing what having a desirable car can do for an automaker's image, even though one car does not make a company (far from it).

Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE: TM) indicated today that it will create two separate marketing companies to ensure the world knows even more about the cars and trucks it produces. One of the companies will focus on the U.S. market, while the other will look at the global arena outside the U.S. Both companies will light up operations at the first of next year, but possibly by the end of this year.

I recently attended a Lakers' basketball playoff game and took notice of the fact that Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) was a major sponsor advertising at Staples Staples Inc (NASDAQ: SPLS) Center. This, while our home grown car companies are all on the verge of collapse.

As we write stories on the depressed economy readers frequently comment about "buying American" as a theme that will help the greater good by keeping jobs and money in the United States.

This patriotic notion got me thinking about what would happen if we carried it further? Would we stop advertising and promotion of foreign products? Would we restrict discussion of foreign products in the media all together? Would we limit the production of foreign products here, even if they are providing jobs for Americans?

When Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) announced that is had sold its one-millionth Prius hybrid car, environmentalists worldwide stood up and cheered. After all, it was Japanese foresight that saw the need for 45-MPG cars more than just a few years ago and all it took for the sales to take off was the onslaught of $4/gallon gas. But as this National Labor Committee analysis explains, is Toyota the touchy-feely auto manufacturer that it seems to be? In a word, no.

The push to get products to the market as fast as possible (hopefully, the "right" products) has turned Toyota into a labor-abusing monolith of corporate greed, according to the article. While General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) pays its workers very well from a labor standpoint and gives the labor force a large voice, Toyota's workers are overworked, underpaid and abused in other ways. Is there a good, middle ground? The appetite of U.S. consumers to purchase more fuel-efficient cars -- something Detroit is still unprepared for in many ways -- is giving Toyota unprecedented levels of new business. All this business is creating demand, and in turn, Toyota must form a method to get those products out the door. According to the NLC, turning the screws on human labor rights is the key to all this.

Is it really the "race to the bottom?" As in, the bottom of the price barrel where "worst practices" are adopted as a form of competitive pressure to ensure those sales continue to rack up? The distinction between labor practices for Toyota's Japanese workers and GM's American workers is pretty stark in this example. It seems to strongly suggest that all those Prius owners who believe they are helping the world by bellowing out less emissions and wasting less gas are paying for it in another way -- in the form of human rights abuses they never see.

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM), in an effort to help lagging car sales and reduce dealer inventory has decided to open loans to seven years [subscription required], expanding the repayment terms from the more traditional three or four year term. The longer amortization periods naturally reduce the car buyers' payments, but there is no mention of a bigger problem that is very likely and the reason this has not been done before -- cars depreciate rapidly!

George Borst, chief executive of Toyota Financial Services, said at a financial-services conference in San Francisco that the company started offering seven-year car loans in late summer. These loans, which carry slightly higher rates than 72-month deals, (the previous stretch) have risen to represent 4% of all cars Toyota Financial Services lends money on.

In one way, this could be looked upon favorably by Toyota car buyers. The company has a great track record for building quality products. This reinforces that notion of dependability. However, cautious buyers should understand that this may not play out to their advantage. It is possible that some time in the fifth year, the loan will be upside down, meaning it will have an outstanding balance higher than the value of the car. What happens then?

This could be another case of dealers charging more money (interest) to the poorest buyers, who are not aware of the impact these loans may eventually have. Reminds me of the mortgage mess. In hindsight, the government should have examined the mortgage industry and Wall Street's business practices and risk. Who's watching now?

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the design and research principal for an architecture & planning firm.

Can General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Ford (NYSE: F) make a good car? After years of claiming that they can't make money with passenger cars, American automakers are finally taking the car market seriously. The fat years of making glorified pickup trucks tricked out with leather seats and premium sound systems -- better known as SUVs -- are now over, and Detroit finds itself in a bit of a pickle. The Americans may have ignored the basics of making well-designed cars, not gas-guzzling trucks, for so long that they may not be able to catch up with the leaders, Toyota (NYSE: TM) and Honda (NYSE: HMC).

The problem is that foreign automakers now have an enormous lead in design and manufacturing expertise when it comes to passenger cars. The Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord have long been the leading sedans in the U.S., and for good reason. They are roomy, comfortable, very well designed and made, and reasonably efficient. Their surprisingly powerful yet nearly silent engines last for hundreds of thousands of miles, which helps maintain resale values. And they are profitable: Toyota reportedly clears $1,000 per Camry, and with 400,000 Camry sedans sold last year in the U.S., that's a good chunk of change that any car company would be happy with.

Nevertheless, the competition for sedan sales is heating up. As The Wall Street Journal reports, GM is pushing the Chevrolet Malibu as an American alternative to the Camry and the Accord. Ford, too, is entering the fray, changing the name of the Ford 500 to the Taurus in an effort to recapture the glory of that hallowed name. (I think this shows just how desperate Ford is, given that the Taurus' glory days were in the 1980s and that the car sold so poorly in recent years that it was terminated.)

But it may be too late. As John Casesa, a former Wall Street auto analyst, says in the Journal piece, "The ship has sailed in the midsize sedan segment . . . Camry and Accord are now established titans in that part of the market." Even worse, Detroit may not be able to rule the second tier under Toyota and Honda. Other foreign manufactures, including Nissan and Hyundai, are making very good cars these days. Starting at under $18,000, Hyundai's Sonata sedan is a particularly strong alternative to the Camry and the Accord. So there isn't much room for the Malibu and the Taurus. It looks like Detroit may pay the price for ignoring cars so long for many years to come.

A lot of business news this week. Here are the highlights:

Falling up: Pfizer Inc.'s (NYSE:PFE) former CEO, Henry A. McKinnell Jr., who stepped down in July, several months before he was to be fired due to investor anger over his pay package, will be getting a retirement package valued at $180 million, with the potential to reach $200 million. According to the SEC filing, McKinnell receives $82.3 million in pension benefits, $77.9 million in deferred compensation, and cash and stock totaling more than $20.7 million. McKinnell was fired as a result of investor anger over his increased pay concurrent with the stock declining more than 40%. Jeffrey B. Kindler, a former General Electric executive replaced McKinnell and recently announced a 20% reduction in Pfizer's U.S. sales force. Merry Christmas! Read the story.

The sum of its parts: Two of its largest investors are grappling for control over bankrupt car parts maker Delphi Corp. (OTC:DPHIQ). On Monday, a group led by Appaloosa Management and Cerberus Capital Management offered to give Delphi a $3.4 billion to get it back in its feet, in return for a large chunk of the company. Highland Capital Management LP then proposed investing $4.7 billion in the company, trumping the earlier offer. Delphi filed for bankruptcy in 2005 in a move which hurt its former parent -- and top client, General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM). Read the story.

Not Nyet: A group of record labels are suing Russian music download site Allofmp3.com. The lawsuit was filed in New York on behalf of Arista Records, Warner Bros, Capitol and UMG recordings. They are suing Moscow-based Mediaservices, which runs Allofmp3.com and allTunes.com. The suit claims that the sites are selling songs without permission. Allofmp3.com sells albums for about $1 and charges only a few cents for songs while Apple Computer, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iTunes charges about $10 for an album. Read the story.


baksheesh for bread: The Australian Wheat Board -- largest single supplier of humanitarian goods to Iraq under the UN oil-for-food program -- is suspended from U.S. government contracts for paying bribes to Iraq's former regime. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said that the step was taken "based on evidence of illicit activities." In November, an investigation found AWB broke UN oil-for-food program rules by paying Saddam Hussein $222 million to secure contracts. Until last week, the AWB enjoyed a 67-year-old monopoly which controlled the export of wheat from Australia. Read the story.

Slippery Slope: On Tuesday, Bangkok's SET stock index plunged 15%. Foreign investors were told that they would only be able to invest 70% of money brought into the country and that they could only recoup the full amount if they left it in the country for a year. This prompted a sell-off that produced the worst day in 16 years for the Thai market. This reminded the global investment community of the 1997 Asian financial crisis when foreign outflows led to a region-wide market collapse. Read the story.

Jackpot!: Harrah's Entertainment Inc. (NYSE:HET) agreed to a $90-a-share bid from Apollo Management and Texas Pacific Group. Harrah's owns U.S. casino firm Caesars and is currently in the process of buying rival Las Vegas Barbary Coast Hotel and Casino from Boyd Gaming Corp. (NYSE:BYD) as well as recently acquired casino operator London Clubs International. This acquisition price is at 35% premium over Harrah's shares two months ago. Read the story.

Iron Men of Hendy: Westinghouse, a former U.S. company now a division of Toshiba Corp., was awarded an estimated $5.3 billion dollar contract to build nuclear reactors in China. The contract includes four nuclear plants -- two in the Zhejiang province and two at Yangjiang in Guangdong. Demand for nuclear fuel continues to grow in China. The International Energy Agency estimates that more than $200 billion will be spent by 2030 on harnessing the atom for energy output. Read the story.

Two-oyta: According to the New York Times, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) has concluded that it will be overtaken next year by rival car-maker Toyota Motor Corp. (ADR) (NYSE:TM). The company has enjoyed the #2 position -- behind its bigger competitor, General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM) -- since the 1920s. Ford's sales fell 10% in the US last month, while Toyota's revenue grew 16%. The reasons for Toyota's expected move upwards in the ranking spans from the popularity of Toyota's Camry to consumer's perception of Toyota's vehicles as high mileage/low gas guzzling. Read the story.

Snow daze: "The blizzard of 2006" has paralyzed Colorado -- forcing airports, businesses and resorts to shut down. The Denver International Airport was closed and more than 1,000 flights canceled through Thursday. Operations were not expected to resume until late Friday. According to the Denver Post, Colorado's economy generated "$216.5 billion last year, which works out to $866 million per working day, assuming 250 working days a year." Meanwhile, Colorado's Transportation Department deployed 800 plows to operate a 24-hour schedule across the state. This may not have been of much help as even the airport runways were covered with snow only 30 minutes after each plowing. Read the story.

No soft landing: The Commerce Department said that the number of new homes built in November was at a six-year low. According to the report, about 1.48 million houses were started in October, 14% below the previous month and 27% lower than a year ago. The number of permits awarded for future housing projects fell to its lowest level since 1997. The housing slump is so severe, that it has affected the wider U.S. economy -- Economic growth in the third quarter slowed to an annual rate of 1.6%, which is the lowest level in three years. Read the story.

Hilary Kramer is a financial editor and money coach for AOL and an authority on investing. Visit her at www.hilarykramer.com.