Toyota Motor president Fujio Cho, known as a champion of modesty, called General Motors a “wonderful” company on Tuesday and dismissed suggestions the Japanese car maker was trying to overtake its bigger rival, Reuters reported.
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Toyota, the world’s third largest maker by sales volume after GM and Ford, has set a target of boosting its global market share to 15% some time in the next decade from a little over 10% now, which would likely put it ahead of GM, the news agency noted.
“We honestly don’t intend to and we’re not aiming to overtake GM,” Cho reportedly told an industry conference in Tokyo, also attended separately by top executives from GM, Ford and other big car makers.
Toyota’s rapid growth, especially in the key US market at the expense of locals, has been further highlighted recently by data showing it outsold Chrysler in the United States in August for the first time, Reuters noted.
“For us, GM and the ‘Big Three’ have always been a presence beyond our reach, way beyond the clouds in the sky, and now we feel we’ve finally reached a position where we can see them somewhere in the distance ahead,” reportedly said Cho, who Reuters said is famously modest, perhaps reflecting the company’s motto, “continuous improvement”.
The news agency said Cho’s characterisation appears a stretch even for Toyota, which is by far the most profitable and cash-rich vehicle maker in the world, with $US8.6 billion in net profit last year, and also an undisputed leader by stock value – its market capitalisation is more than $US110 billion, compared with GM’s $24 billion and more than the combined values of GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler.
Reuters noted that GM last week said its third-quarter earnings from its global automotive business fell 91% to $34 million as its North American automotive business earned 76% less than last year, hurt by a production fall and a rise in consumer incentives.
GM’s overall earnings improved to a $425 million net profit from an $804 million loss last year, but only helped by the strength of its finance arm, the news agency added.
Still, asked what figure he admired most in the global automotive industry, Cho singled out GM as a company, commending it for remaining a powerful company after so many years, Reuters said.
“We have a long history of working together with GM in America, and although we have no capital alliance with it, I think it’s a wonderful company,” Cho reportedly said, adding: “Keeping that size and scale for as long as it has is truly a remarkable feat.”
Toyota and GM have a joint venture in Fremont, California, known as NUMMI, or New United Motor Manufacturing Inc, which was founded in 1984 and makes cars and trucks like the Toyota Tacoma, Toyota Corolla and GM’s Pontiac Vibe, Reuters said.
During the mid-1990s GM shipped Chevrolet Cavaliers from the US to Japan for sale as Toyota models and the company’s Australian arm Holden had a model-sharing arrangement with Toyota Australia under a now defunct government motor industry plan.
