Hindustan Times
2011: A forgettable year for Toyota..
For all reasons good and bad, 2011 was a forgettable year for Toyota. Besieged by problems ranging from an earthquake followed by Tsunami in its home country and a once in a centennial floods in Thailand, another major hub for its production, the company lost its number 1 position to General Motors.
And it happened in some dramatic fashion. Toyota is now not the number 2 or 3 but a surprising fourth largest auto maker in the world. To put things in perspective, never has an automaker slipped like this in history in just one year. Even the deluge of recalls of 2010 had merely narrowed the gap between Toyota and GM, not taken its crown. 
Can the carmaker hit back and regain its crown this year? Perhaps but it is unlikely. Even as it suffered a dramatic collapse in 2011, an equally dramatic return to form is not in the forecast. It has projected a 20% jump in sales to 8.48 million units in 2012. In all probability GM would also grow in high single digit, if not a double digit and that would put it safely ahead of Toyota. 
That kind of a stunning turnaround (20% on a base like that is stunning) would however put Toyota very close to Europe’s largest auto maker Volkswagen Group. This year could also see the start of a protracted battle for the number 2 spot between Asia’s best and Europe’s best behind the shadows of America’s best. 
The clincher to this battle could be emerging markets like Brazil, India and Russia. I had analysed such a competition last year looking at the two companies strengths and weaknesses in various markets around the world at http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/Auto/VW-vs-Toyota-played-in-India/Article1-724267.aspx. A growing market like India, where both are almost at an even keel, could prove to be decisive. 
Lucky mascot Corolla feels the heat too
Though Toyota has slipped from the pedestal, its best selling car Corolla remains at the top. But only just. And it is facing the heat, not from a Chevrolet or a Volkswagen, Nissan or Ford but a Hyundai. 
In 2011, Corolla remained at the top of the pile with sales of over 1.02 million units across countries around the world. The new Hyundai Elantra, however, that got the famed Fluidic boost last year, is close on its tails with just 10,000 units separating the two. That’s a remarkable achievement for a car that till 2009, was not even in the top 10. It is also the only Korean car ever to have sold over 1million units in a single year. 
Elantra is a fabulous under-performer in India and it is no longer even produced here. But clearly, that is no indication of the kind of success it has achieved in other markets. For the uninitiated, it is the largest selling car in China, the largest market in the world. Interestingly, two Elantra models (the old and new) are simultaneously sold in the dragon land, a phenomenon unthinkable in India. Lovers of great sedans, people in China continue to love and buy the older model even as a newer model comes in.
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