toyota as no. 1
 

Undoubtedly, the vehicle that actually pushes Toyota ahead of GM will be a Tundra that was built in San Antonio. ;)

San Antonio Express-News, 9-7-07

S.A. plant may help Toyota get No. 1 slot

SEAN M. WOOD
EXPRESS-NEWS BUSINESS WRITER
The Toyota Tundra pickups built in San Antonio may be the margin of victory for the carmaker if it wrests the title of world's largest automaker from General Motors later this year.
GM this week lowered its production forecast for North America for the remainder of the year. The current largest automaker is set to build 9.28 million vehicles worldwide by the end of the year. Toyota plans to build 9.42 million. That includes its Hino large-truck brand and Daihatsu.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas should cover the difference of 140,000 vehicles easily. The new $1.28 billion plant is slated to build about 150,000 pickups this year.
Toyota is downplaying the approaching milestone.
“Our goal isn't to be the biggest, it's to be the best,” Toyota spokesman Victor Vanov said. “And ultimately, that's determined by our customers. We've seen good demand from our customers.”
GM officials aren't concerned at the prospect of losing their long-held crown to Toyota. Though the Japanese carmaker is about to overtake it, GM still had a sales increase in August. Toyota's monthly sales dipped.
“All I can tell you is we have learned the lesson of overcapacity,” GM spokesman John McDonald said. “We want to make sure our products have value to consumers. They need to have high resale value and be the best product we can put out.
“To a consumer, they're quite frankly not concerned about who's No. 1 and who's No. 2. They're concerned about who has the best product and the best fuel economy and best styling.”
Rebecca Lindland, an automotive industry analyst for forecasting company Global Insight, echoed that sentiment, saying consumers don't care if GM is the world's largest carmaker or not.
“It would mean more if GM was still losing the billions of dollars they had been losing,” she said. “Then we'd be in a situation where nothing is working for them.”
For the first six months of the year, GM had net income of $953 million, compared with a net loss of nearly $2.8 billion for the same period last year.
“Things are not completely right yet,” Lindland said. “Things certainly are a heck of a lot better than they were. It's really just bragging rights. And bragging rights are really a luxury that GM can't afford right now.”
swood@express-news.net