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Toyota Prius line may not reach 2013 sales target

2012 was a good year for the Toyota Prius line, the hybrid that started it all moving 236,659 units, being the best-selling model in California for the year and the Prius C (pictured) being deemed the most reliable car of 2012 by Consumer Reports. Then 2013 happened, and gas prices dropped more than expected, and people haven't been buying the little hybrids like they used to.
A report in Bloomberg says Toyota set 250,000 units as the Prius family's sales target for this year, but hits like the double-digit drop in year-on-year performance in February have helped lower 2013 sales by 8.4 percent compared to 2012, making the objective "a challenge" to reach. The declines in Prius sales come even as hybrid sales overall were up in the first couple of months this year, including sales of other Toyota and Lexus hybrids. Jim Lentz, Toyota's North American chief, said the Prius target would be adjusted if necessary.

China's largest dealer body pushes back against foreign automakers over huge inventories

Do not think for a second that automakers forcing inventory on dealers in order to pad the numbers is a ruse known only in the US. Stories of individual brands have hinted at the trouble Chinese dealerships are having trying to move units as the country's economic growth remains hot but comes off the boil, like the one revealing that 95 percent of Toyota-FAW showrooms are losing money. Yet Toyota isn't the only culprit, and the issue has become so dire that the China Automobile Dealers Association (CADA), the largest dealer body in the country, has written to the government to complain. Chinese car sales are expected to close out the year with an annualized growth of six-percent, down from last year's 14 percent when targets were set, while in the background the pace of overall economic expansion is the slowest its been since the early nineties. Automakers, shipping cars on schedule to make their earlier targets, have blown up inventories such that they are an average of 1.8 times monthly sales, when the preferred multiplier is from 0.9 to 1.2. According to the CADA, the price wars and necessary incentives mean that only 30 percent of dealers are operating in the black. That number is down a whopping forty percent since 2010. In response, Toyota has already said it will not make its 2014 target of 1.1 million cars sold. We're a long way from 2012, when Toyota planned on selling 1.8 million cars in China in 2015, a target that's now as realistic as a manticore. BMW, Honda and Nissan have erased numbers on their spreadsheets, too; BMW growth dropped from 20 percent to 8 percent midyear after it began "reducing wholesale supplies," and Honda has been reworking its plans as sales have decreased each of the past six months. It's a big deal for Chinese dealers to begin protesting publicly, the CADA saying, "In the past, dealers were angry, but dared not speak out. But now, they have to shout because the situation is getting so unbearable." With six-percent growth forecast for next year and dealers unwilling to remain underwater, The Year of the Sheep coming in 2015 could portend meaning beyond the zodiac. News Source: ReutersImage Credit: AP Photo/Andy Wong BMW Honda Nissan Toyota Car Buying Car Dealers

Toyota donates engineers, not money, to country's largest anti-hunger charity

Key to production of any kind is efficiency - the ability to achieve maximum productivity with minimal effort or waste. Toyota has become a master of efficiency, with streamlined manufacturing operations around the world. In fact, the Japanese brand has become so well known for efficient operations that it now offers consulting services for organizations and companies outside the auto industry.
It also offers the same consulting for non-profits, free of charge. The New York Times took an in-depth look at the transformative impact that Toyota's engineers had on the city's charities, including The Food Bank, the country's largest anti-hunger charity. The auto manufacturer helped revolutionize the way these organizations served the community, showing that there's more to corporate philanthropy than just donating money.
Head on over to the Times' website and give the story a read.