Page 52 - Toyota Under Fire

THE MOST ADMIRED COMP ANY IN THE WORLD

The high-level goals for 2010 included becoming more en-
vironmentally friendly in both vehicles and operations, creating
innovative and exciting new vehicles, and becoming “the most
admired automotive company in the world.” These goals are
fairly vague, of course, and they were broken down into targets
related to profitability, quality, average fuel economy, and market
share—specifically, in this case, 15 percent global market share, a
figure that would push Toyota past GM as the world’s largest au-
tomobile manufacturer. It was an audacious target that required
almost doubling the size of the company, although in 2002, few
doubted Toyota’s ability to achieve it.
From 2002 to 2007, everything seemed very much on course.
In fact, 2003 to 2007 was the most profitable five years in the com-
pany’s history. At the beginning of 2008, Toyota was sprinting to-
ward achieving its Global Vision 2010 goals. In North America,
for instance, Toyota’s aggressive push into the stronghold of Ameri-
can carmakers with vehicles like the Tundra full-size truck and the
Sequoia, Highlander, and RAV4 SUVs was met with great success,
success that was exceeded only by the wild popularity of the Prius
hybrid. Shortly after bringing out the Tundra, Toyota announced
that it would build a factory complex in San Antonio, Texas, to
build Tundras in tandem with the original plant in Indiana (known
as TMMI) where it was launched. In addition, new plants had
opened or were planned in Ontario, Canada; Blue Springs, Mis-
sissippi; and Baja, Mexico. Certainly, investing in new plants in the
United States and Canada while most of manufacturing was fleeing
the country to low-wage developing economies set Toyota apart.
In 2008, the Camry was the best-selling vehicle in the United
States, the eleventh time in 12 years that the car had won the sales
crown. Lexus has also been the best-selling luxury brand more
years than not since the turn of the millennium.

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