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Auto on Info May 2004 In April 2004, Overseas Production Soars at Toyota, Nissan, and Mazda: Big Shift Toward Quality with Big Three Situation Worsening In April 2004, Toyota Motor Corporation increased overseas production by 20.3%,1 Nissan Motor Corporation - by 20.4%,1 and Mazda Motor Corporation - by 20.5%.2 Honda Motor Company increased overseas production by a more modest 4.9%.1 No information on change in overseas production by Fuji Heavy Industries' Subaru was available. Toyota, Honda, Subaru, Nissan, and Mazda are at the upper end of reliability. Toyota, Honda, Subaru, and Nissan's Infiniti line dominate reliability.3 At the opposite end of the reliability spectrum, the Big Three saw their situation sour. By the end of April, car lot inventories of Ford Motor Company vehicles stood at a 91-day supply, those of General Motors vehicles - at an 88-day supply, and those of Chrysler vehicles - at an 83-day supply.4 A desired inventory is about a 60-day supply. Sales of larger SUVs provide a useful contrast. April 2004 sales of Cadillac Escalades were down 17% and the car lot inventory of the Cadillac Escalade stood at a 125-day supply.5 And April 2004 sales of Chevrolet Suburbans were down 21%,6 Lincoln Navigators - 25%,6 and Ford Expeditions - 34%.6 However, April 2004 sales of the Toyota Land Cruiser rose 4.3% and sales of Toyota's Lexus LX 470, the luxury version of the Land Cruiser, rose 17.0%.7 Furthermore, the Lexus LX 470 was on the Hottest Selling Top Ten list for both March8 and April9. Motor vehicle quality, especially reliability, appears to have been an increasingly important factor in sales in 2004. The following table provides the contrast between the upper and lower ends.
1"Top Japan Automakers' Output Up in April," Associated Press, available at Yahoo! News 2"Japan's Big Three Carmakers Boost Overseas Output," AFP, available at Yahoo! News 4"Vehicle Backlog Increases in April," Detroit Free Press, available at http://www.freep.com/cgi-bin/forms/printerfriendly.pl 5"GM's April Sales Were Lackluster; U.S. Total Is Flat," Wall Street Journal, May 5, 2004, pp. A3,A6 6"Gas Prices Slow Sales of Giant SUVs," Detroit News, available at http://www.detnews.com/2004/autosinsider/0405/29/autos-167622.htm 7"Toyota Reports Eighth Consecutive Best-Ever April Sales," May 3, 2004, at http://www.pressroom.toyota.com/photo_library/display_release.html?id=20040503 8"Hot Off the Lot," Wall Street Journal, May 12, 2004, p. D3 9"Hot Off the Lot," Wall Street Journal, April 7, 2004, p. D2 10Table II |
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Auto on Info Standings for Selected Search Phrases on Auto News
Site Rank in Results for Search Phrase Car Quality News Site Rank in Results for Search Phrase Auto Quality News Site Rank in Results for Search Phrase Auto News First by Yahoo! Search from 5,230,000 results First by Yahoo! Search from 3,510,000 results Thirty-ninth by Yahoo! Search from 37,600,000 results First by MSN Search from 1,110,112 results First by MSN Search from 716,283 results Fifteenth by MSN Search from 7,682,302 results Fifteenth by Google from 3,730,000 results Tenth by Google from 2,400,000 results Eightieth by Google from 7,450,000 results Standings are as of 14/03/2004.
