I learn from the FT’s latest survey on the motor industry (which requires a subscription) that, in the midst of the longest recession of the modern era in its home territory, the mighty Toyota is in the ascendant. This year the business will make profits twice as large as any car manufacturer has ever made before and this is prinicipally because of an extraordinary rise in market share in the USA of over 50% in the last ten years while the big three US manufacturers (GM, Ford and Daimler Chrysler) continue to shred each other’s margins in a disastrous price war.
In which I try, after 25 years of blogging, to drop my ironic stance a bit.