By Tessa R. Salazar
Philippine Daily Inquirer
THE AUTOMOTIVE buzz last week was that US automaker General Motors Corp.’s “solid sales growth” gave it a slim lead over Japanese carmaker Toyota Motor Corp. in 2007 global vehicle sales, allowing it to keep its top spot for the 77th year.
GM sold 9,369,524 vehicles last year — a measly lead of 3,000 over Toyota’s 9.366 million vehicles sold last year. Automotive business analysts are expecting a more intense rivalry this year as the two compete for emerging markets like China and India.
But the No. 2 placer, it seems, isn’t complaining.
Associated Press reported that despite the media interest in the rivalry, Toyota said it was not interested in the numbers game, and has even expressed worries about a possible backlash reminiscent of the “Japan-bashing” in the 1980s and ’90s should they dethrone GM in its home turf, the United States.
Toyota Motors Philippines First Vice President for Marketing and Sales Daniel Isla said that ever since the issue of being No. 1 worldwide started playing in pundits’ minds, the mandate of Toyota to its local distributors has been not to focus on quantity, but to continue producing quality cars and good customer service.
Isla stressed that there has been no pressure from headquarters to take the top spot, but they “gave us specific targets and figures for market share. It doesn’t matter to TMC what rank we’re in as long as we’re able to meet our targets.”
He added: “They always tell us to be humble in any achievement. They don’t want fanfare that we’re inching closer to GM. The mother company is so quiet about it.”
Isla said that no matter what global rank Toyota ends up in, it wouldn’t have much of an effect in the local auto market.
GM Philippines’ local bestseller in 2007 was the Aveo sedan, followed by the Optra and Spark. GM could not be reached for comment as of press time.
Toyota’s Innova remains the top seller of all vehicles sold in the country.
In 2007, the top three Toyota vehicles sold were Innova (10,544 units), Vios (8,717) and Fortuner (7,216).
Analysts are expecting Ford and GM to be more competitive with the dollar’s devaluation relative to most major world currencies. Some are also wondering whether the distinction of being the world’s automotive capital would still belong to Detroit in the near future.
