Toyota’s Australian operations safe – for now
December 15, 2008 by Matt Brogan
Despite the doom and gloom of Toyota’s current economic status, including global operational losses of $1.7 billion forecast over the next six months, Toyota says it has no current plans to cut jobs in Australia.
Japanese media says falling sales and a climbing yen will lead to the company’s first interim operating loss since 1999 forcing the company to lower its earnings forecasts (October to March period likely to cut Toyota’s full-year profit by 80 per cent).
Unlike many other car manufacturers that have reduced job numbers, Toyota with strong Middle East exports, the production of the Hybrid Camry and a well-managed Australian operation should avoid any downturn locally.
National secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union’s vehicle division Ian Jones has welcomed the news saying,
“I think Toyota have got a good plan for Australia,” he said. “They are a very well-managed Australian operation. I don’t think they will experience the same problems as the other (carmakers).”
Print it: 
Nix : you make a good point !!!!!!!!!
Nix,
well when you look at it, ford, holden and toyota all fit the model i described.
toyotas range increased, holden and particularly fords range decreased. ford was without a small, light and medium car choice for quite a while. Only now are they picking that up. The thing is though, now those buyers have deflected elsewhere
McKay…..we were told the Aurion was an All New Car….it isnt !! Its a Camry V6 with a new name…….Toyota smoke and mirrors once again !!
Ford Global
Market cap ▼ US$ 6.3 Billion (December 2008)[1]
Revenue ▲ US$ 172.455 Billion (2007)[2]
Operating income ▼ US$ 5.296 Billion (2007)[2]
Net income ▼ US$ -2.723 Billion (2007)[2]
Total assets ▲ US$ 279.264 Billion (2007)
Total equity ▲ US$ 5.628 Billion (2007)
Employees 87,700 (2008)[3]
GM Global
Revenue ▼ US$ 181.122 Billion (2007)[1][2][3][4]
Operating income ▼ US$ -4.390 Billion (2007)
Net income ▼ US$ -38.732 Billion (2007)[5]
Total assets ▼ US$ 148.883 billion (2007)
Total equity ▼ US$ -37.094 billion (2007)
Employees 266,000 (2008)[6]
Toyota Golobal
Market cap ▼ USD $171.88 billion (2008)[2]
Revenue ▲ USD $262.39 billion (2008)[2]
Operating income ▲ USD $22.61 billion (2008)[2]
Net income ▲ USD $17.15 billion (2008)[2]
Total assets ▲ USD $323.97 billion (2008)[2]
Total equity ▲ USD 118.47 billion (2008)[2]
Employees 316,121[3]
Read what you want into.
Facts : thanks for that, good reading.
That total equity for GM is now -60 billion :D
With respect to GM, to put things in perspective, all you need to ask yourself is whether YOU would lend GM money right now.
That my friends, is why any government assistance to GM is not the answer.
All i can say is go the falcon we should be proud of it.Its the only ozzy car left that has a ozzy engine built here and fitted to ozzy car all other cars have imported engines in there ozzy cars.Im so glad ford choose to continue with this engine for us.And its the best car on the market in its model line up
IT HELPS WHEN YOU ARE GIVING THEM AWAY HYDE, CHEAPER THAN AN EPICA :)
Toyota do have a design centre in melbourne, thats how they came up with the re-hashed v6 camry (aurion) which is not exported, mckay.
The Pontiac G8 sedan is safe but according to Left Lane News the ST (ute) is on shaky ground.
The fact of the matter is Toyota is looking at a 1.7million dollar loss and profits to be down 80%.Fudge facts and figures all you like ppl, this is reality.
Nix,
I had to duck off and didnt get to touch on the other factor in the market swing.
Toyota has gone out all guns blazing chasing down market share by signing up the fleet market wherever they can.
Holden on the other hand (and ford too) declared they dont want to attract the fleet market as much as they once use to. Holden doesnt cut the fleets the super deals they once used to. Quite a few fleets went to toyota who were and are cutting the deals.
The other noted mover is VW. VW is now chasing down fleet sales in order to move up the sales podium. The other mover is Hyundai. Even hyundai is starting to make an apperance on fleet books now!!!
Whoever holds the #1 sales award is heavily backed by fleets whether its holden or toyota that holds the gong.
And a side note to all that, or should i say a question relating to that is what does the sales number count for??
Some people seem to forget that 99.9% of us are on the consumer end of the stick.
Im sure you must have fun impressing your mates with your fancy new toyota. instead of “popping the hood”, do you instead pop the glove box to pull out a slaes declaration certificate??
Falcodore : indeed, fudge figures as much as we like as it detracts nothing away from GM, Ford and Crysler being reliant on the public purse for survival while Toyota has mega-wealth in reserve.
Jeykel : most Commodore buyers are 80 – 84% fleet which means only 16 – 20% are counted as private sales.
Andrew : in reality with your head pulled from the sand, approx 80 – 84 % of Falcon and Commodore sales are fleet accounted and that doesn’t include fleet sales of the rest of their fleet.
I believe it is about time you started suppling reliable information instead of winging it for once.
Andrew : i don’t agree with you and believe you are distant from the actual truth.
Fleet is only a single segment of the entire industry and if you are able to successfully tap into every or most categories like Toyota has excelled at then i guess one can only expect a strong position
drive down the Geelong\Melbourne road and you will see acres and acres of unsold VE Commodes……this is why they are closing the factory for another month. Add to this the 11,000 VE Pontiacs in the USA …….mmmmmmmmmmm
I’m not getting into this one. I’ve got important things to do, like sorting out my socks into pairs.
reading a lot of stuff here, basically just ensures one thing.
Some people argue with figures and numbers, (facts)
some argue using their preferences….
and btw
Toyota’s R&D/ Engineering center here is 4 years old…. and as other Toyota R&D/Engineering centers around the world… work together on global platforms to ensure compatibility globally…. now if you know the benefits and advantages of that approach… you’d see why Toyota is doing better than others..
You’re lucky Grammar Nazi that you have socks you can put into pairs… I’m always left with a couple of singles left over – I think the washing machine eats them
Yes this whole blog topic socks
McKay Says:
December 15th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
“Realcars : i believe the Aurion makes a mighty fist of it’s own even in it’s first carnation”
Umm, the V6 Camry is NOT in it’s first incarnation, it is quite a few generations old. Renaming the car does not make it a new car!
I saw that and roared, Bret. A carnation is a flower, like a nasturtium. Do not cast nasturtiums on Mckay’s (Dingo’s) intelligence.
Golfschwein Says:
December 16th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
What’s with the (dingo) reference?? Sorry but have seen it several times on posts and feel like I’m being left out??
Take fleet sales out of the equation and the most popular car in the country is…..drum roll….. the Mazda3. Thats a fact people. Yes, in the private sector where all of us ‘car enthusiasts’ reside the humble Mazda3 sits atop the podium.
Hopefully that will make all you who are either Ford, Holden or Toyota fans see some perspective….hopefully
Having the most popular “private” car in the country won’t help Mazda win the Grand Final, Falcodore. You need every player in your team for you to win.
Falcodore,
Thats old news that everybody knows. But it only applies to new car sales. Many people prefer to buy “near new” and take advantage of ex-fleet savings.
All these arguments that fleet numbers don’t count because they don’t equate to real people is just wrong.
What do you think fleets would do with all of their old cars if “real people” didn’t but them?
So whilst “fleet” may be to companies first, they all go to private buyers in the end.
It’s realy all about total volume.
Bret, agree with you on that as my sister bought an ex-fleet car but the article wasnt refering to ex-fleet cars so i dont think Toyota was taking that into consideration filed this press release.
Should have said “when they filed this press release.’ sorry
I just did some quick calculations.
It takes 3.5 weeks for GM to lose 1.7 billion dollars :D
They are losing money at an average rate of $52000 USD per minute.
McKay,
i was asked for some reasons why toyota saw growth in sales, and holden saw decline sales.
2 reasons i presented are,
(a) toyotas range increased, and holdens decreased and
(b) toyota went after fleet sales aggressively, and holden backed off them
they are both relevant.
im not one to say fleet sales dont count, what i did was provide 2 reasons which are TRUE, and both reasons could be reflected in each of toyotas and holdens sales to show the sales outcomes that we see
Andrew : Holden and Ford still rely heavily on fleet sales particularly for the Commodore and Falcon with approximately 80% of sales for these cars derived from fleet.
Toyota boomed for many reasons including a strong and diverse fleet, popularity in many / most categories not just fleet, reputation and of course the resource boom which is fueling the sales of commercials. The Hilux being the sales king for 2 months this year is a prime indicator.
Eitherway, if i am viewing my figures correctly then i believe Toyota is selling more vehicles then total sales of Holden and Ford as one.
There is something subliminal going on on this blog as I have suddenly gotten the urge to scour the classifieds for a used Aurion.
Hey Pickles has millions of them.Yipeeeeee.
McKay Says:
December 16th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
There is also the other side of the story as well, and that is Toyota sales staff are bieng set up to make an income out of Volume bonuses, and not commission as there is naf all profit left in the deals. Where as other franchises are working on retained gross to keep the sales staff income respectable. At a dealership I was at recently, the Ford sales staff deliverd half the numbers of the Toyota staff, yet had a 27% higher income. Guess who has a better retention of staff?
“(b) toyota went after fleet sales aggressively, and holden backed off them..”
Over that 10 year period Andrew, exactly when did Holden back off on chasing fleet sales? Did you read that in a Holden brochure somewhere?
The Camry is a fleet seller, no prob with that, the Aurion yes to an extent, but then its only been out 2 years?
No problem with your point (a), But you have heard of Barna, Epica, Viva and Astra? See a problem there? I do :)
Quote [Nix] “….exactly when did Holden back off on chasing fleet sales? Did you read that in a Holden brochure somewhere?”
The fact Holden designed the VE Sportwagon the way they did – with a somewhat smaller cargo area indicates that they are aiming more at private buyers than they are sales reps.
Then there’s the VE Ute which is marketed as more of a “lifestyle vehicle” than it’s rival; the Falcon which is definitely more of a workhorse.. therefore; less attractive to commercial/fleet buyers – but both of them are still selling reasonably well.
So the station wagon was released 3 months ago, that’s really relevant to the last 10 years. Here’s a tip, stop reading the brochures :)
Crikey some of you guys make me laugh.
Frontman, don’t confuse dealer decision making with that of the manufacturer. Sales staff are employed by the dealer, not TMCA or Ford Australia. Doubtless most sales staff these days are on far less attractive commission packages than in the past, so volume, no matter who you work for is more important than ever.
Approximately 80% of Commodore and Falcon sales remain fleet driven and the stats don’t change no matter how you look at it.
It is still 80% or even a little more this year according to the sources i have read.
Quote [Nix]: So the wagon was released 3 months ago, that’s really relevant to the last 10 years.
It is relevant; because it shows that Holden are focussing less and less on fleet buyers; particularly as its the latest model to be released by Holden.
If Holden were looking to increase the percentage of fleet sales wouldn’t they have kept cargo area [capacity] of the Sportwagon the same size as the VT-VZ models or even made it bigger?
Dlr1, I agree that the packages are geared by the Dp’s etc. But they are also geared to maximise the direction the distributor want them to go.
In the case of a distributor chasing volume, your pay structures roll that way. I remember selling Mazda’s during the 90’s when the coined the phrase, “do the deal teh profit will follow”. At the standard $50 or 10% comms a lot of sales staff swapped to selling Hyundai’s (flat rate $80.00). Same franchise had Mitsu’s and we were making only 80% of target and had around a 30% pump in to our PMA by oterh dealers, got the standard performance letter several times which basically openly stated that because we were retaining twice the state average we were losing sales. Even had the state manager tell us to dicount heavier and sell more cars & we’d be better off?????
Sorry about the ramble above, it was meant to show that the dealers are supposed to follow what the manufacturers want.
Nix, It’s not so much that GM-H & FORD have turned away business, it more that they are not going after it a agressively. EG Hilux Vs Ranger, both built in same country, both competant reliable well proven (if you are brand Biased substitute BT/50 for Ranger) both equally as good vehicles. The 4 cyl petrol Hilux is $1800 more than the Diesel Ranger. Yet afetr Govco fleet discount applied the Hilux is 2k cheaper.. heavier fleet target and over pricing to Joe Public. Hence Ranger in small business and private capacity is outselling Hilux.
No its not relevant, I was talking over a 10 year period, Andrew clearly stated that Toyota was aggressively chasing fleet sales whilst Holden was pulling back. Your only evidence of Holden pulling back is a station wagon with a smaller cargo bay which was released 3 months ago? Like I said, stop reading the propaganda :)
Frontman, point taken re the hilux, tho that’s hardly a passenger vehicle. It owns that segment thoug.
I also mentioned the fact that the VE Ute is marketed more as a Lifestyle Vehicle instead of a Serious Workhorse like the Falcon.
Or what about the fact that Holden no longer have a Serious Full Size 4×4 to compete against the landcruiser prado which is a popular choice in the primary industry.. particularly mining
Holden don’t have a People Mover either [like the Tarago]which is another favourite with rental car companies
Nor do they have a Commercial Van like the Hiace or Transit and therefore are overlooked by Couriers etc
All of which buy their vehicles in bulk orders and thereby receive huge discounts.
Mind you given that these areas are where Toyota is well established there really is no point.
The only area where Holdens are attractive to Fleets is with the Commodore range which they sell mainly to Government Departments
Nix,
i read that fleets were a bit upset because holden made a decision not to discount their fleet pricing as much, and hence some were swinging to toyota
I think it was an article on Drive. Im not too good going through archives etc, but when i get bored ill see if i can dig it up.
so you agree with my point in toyota increasing their range, and holden (and more so ford) decreased their range..
you said the same thing in a different way.
and a third reason is that toyota has stayed true to its name plates.
the well known names of Pulsar, Laser etc were killed off leaving the rolla as the only real familiar name in the segment.
Viva??? most people shopping in that class would say whats a Viva