Bloomberg (August 1)
“After earnings carnage at global auto rivals,” Toyota is in the “spotlight.” From Detroit to Seoul, Toyota’s global rivals “fell short of estimates and warned of more pain from the trade war.” In contrast, “the world’s most valuable automaker will likely report modest sales and earnings growth for the most recent quarter.” But going forward the automaker still “faces a fight on every front. Potential U.S. tariffs threaten to cripple demand in its biggest market, rivals continue to pull ahead in China, and at home, the top-selling Prius is suffering a slump in popularity.”
Tags: Auto rivals, Carnage, China, Detroit, Earnings, Estimates, Growth, Prius, Sales, Seoul, Tariffs, Toyota, Trade war, U.S.
Washington Post (February 8)
The results of the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration into sudden acceleration found no link to a supposed software flaw in the Toyota Prius. “In short, human error, mechanical errors that Toyota repaired and a dose of politically induced hysteria were to blame.” The hearings by Congress lacked restraint and placed Toyota officials “in an impossible situation, since blaming Toyota customers – though this was true in many cases – would have been a public relations disaster.”
