What should toyota do now businessweek

Automakers were facing tough emissions regulations, the threat of technology and trade frictions that were raising the cost of cars. Global car output was expected to fall for a third consecutive year as demand cratered and stayed flat in Yet production continued to chug along because companies saw no other way out of the morass.

So intense was the fear of what would come from the waning global auto industry that even the International Monetary Fund sounded the alarm. In its World Economic Outlook report in October , the organization noted that the sector accounts for 5. The massive production cuts may now paint a stark picture of what could lie ahead for the global economy. The coronavirus outbreak — and accompanying supply chain shortages and shutdowns — has now forced automakers into what they had previously been unwilling to do.

With all the latest clean air goals, who really needs so many cars, anyway? Especially as they keep getting more expensive. But the pullback should drive a deeper rethink of business models, especially as automakers now have the safety of profit buffers and hefty operating margins, thanks to the demand-supply imbalance.

Companies can even go a step beyond replacing gas vehicles with electric ones, and consider making fewer, better, greener cars.

Any impulse to ignore this opportunity and go back to business-as-usual, churning out heaps of vehicles carmakers think consumers want, would be misguided — and ultimately far more painful. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Luminar founder and CEO Austin Russell says the blistering start of trading for electric truck maker Rivian reveals something important. Toyota Motor Corp, the world's top-selling automaker, said on Friday it would begin making up for production lost from supply shortages in December, with factories at home in Japan returning to normal for the first time in seven months.

Toyota said it plans to produce about , vehicles globally in December, up from about , a year earlier, and keep its plan of producing 9 million vehicles worldwide during the financial year ending on March Yahoo Finance. Sign in. Sign in to view your mail. Finance Home. Toyota Motor Corporation TM. Currency in USD. Add to watchlist. Trade prices are not sourced from all markets.

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