Toyota's new logo.

[1X83Z]

But you are including fleet sales, which isn't really fair. Take those out, and I dont think a truck has ever been the highest-selling vehicle in the US. Most fleet buyers would be unlikey to switch over to a foreign make anyway.

Are YOU out of YOUR tree?!

Fleet sales account for a significant portion of truck sales, but nowhere near significant enough to remove them from the best-sellers list. And small fleets (five vehicles or less) that pay invoice and buy straight from the manufacturers don't count (or shouldn't) because the manufacturer still makes a major profit.

Profitless fleet sales - major fleets - are considerably rarer in the truck market than in the car market because trucks are typically not company-issued vehicles to employees, and there's oddly very little demand for trucks in the airport rental business (though the off-airport rental business, for lack of a better term, is booming and is where most profitless fleet sales take place).

Topping that, even if by some inhuman act, truck fleet sales did propel them below the Toyota Camry to lose their top three spots on the sales charts, the Camry's sales - of which an interestingly large portion are profitless fleet - would indeed keep the status quo.

 

[Freddie]

If Toyota wants to convince people to buy their trucks, they should show those Top Gear episodes where Clarkson takes a beat up 10 year old Toyota pickup and just goes nuts on it. For instance, he drowns it, rams a shack with it, sets it on fire, and puts it on the top of a large apartment building when it gets demolished, and after all that, with no new parts installed, it still runs! It would be interesting if they did a followup with an American pickup eventhough the episodes are about 1 year old now.

I think that video is available for free at the Top Gear site (http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/)

That was awesome, in the end it was the bodywork that kept the frame in place, and not the other way round!

 

[Innotech]

ford sold approximately 780,000 F series truscks this year to date. If that doesnt make it the best selling vehicle in america I dont know what does. Even the Ford Taurus sells about 250k/year and the Toyota Camry sells about 400k.

 

[1X83Z]

The Ford Taurus may sell 250,000 per year, but I'd bet your life that 230,000 of that are to fleets. Christ that thing sucks.

 

[Jimmy Enslashay]

Meh. No good at all. Don't like the current Toyota logo, don't like this one.

 

[pimp racer]

One thing: Are you out of your damn tree?

The most popular vehicles in the United States are the Ford F-series, Chevrolet Silverado, and Dodge Ram. Since the 1960s, a car has NEVER been the most popular vehicle. Trucks outsell cars four to one at DaimlerChrysler, three to one at Ford. IN ORDER TO BE A VOLUME SELLER IN THE UNITED STATES, YOU NEED A COMPETITIVE TRUCK, large and midsize. AND you need to be able to break it into a market that's completely saturated with domestic products. It's likely the hardest sell in any market.

I know in the city, excepting SUVs (which are considered trucks for the purposes of the above statistics), we see pickups one in every nine or so vehicles. In rural America, most vehicles are pickup trucks - truthfully. The market is considerably larger than you think.

I agree trucks are very popular about anywhere in the world.

 

[Omnis]

do trucks sell better than SUVs?

just a quick question.

 

[McLaren'sAngel]

Hiya! Meow! (='.'=)

I really like the old logo better! 👍

 

[Victor Vance]

One thing: Are you out of your damn tree?

The most popular vehicles in the United States are the Ford F-series, Chevrolet Silverado, and Dodge Ram. Since the 1960s, a car has NEVER been the most popular vehicle. Trucks outsell cars four to one at DaimlerChrysler, three to one at Ford. IN ORDER TO BE A VOLUME SELLER IN THE UNITED STATES, YOU NEED A COMPETITIVE TRUCK, large and midsize. AND you need to be able to break it into a market that's completely saturated with domestic products. It's likely the hardest sell in any market.

I know in the city, excepting SUVs (which are considered trucks for the purposes of the above statistics), we see pickups one in every nine or so vehicles. In rural America, most vehicles are pickup trucks - truthfully. The market is considerably larger than you think.

Either way, let's pray Toyota doesn't let their car lineup go to hell in a handbasket. As you probably see, it's been a long recovery process for Ford, GM and Chrysler to get back on their feet. That was the main thing.

Well, the people Toyota should try to score are the buissnessmen in the trade and rural folk. Trust me on this: People don't like high gas prices. After the urban and suburban market fades a bit... just a bit, having a strong connection in fleet sales and people who actually use the trucks to their full potential will ensure healthy sales in the long run. That's my view, anyway.

 

[The359]

Toyota has been in the truck market for a while now. Nissan is following closely behind with the introduction of their first full size ever, the Titan, to rival the Toyota Tundra.

Mitsubishi previously attempted to enter the truck market with their Mighty Max light pickup, a rebadge of a Dodge Dakota/Ram 50. They also have been selling their L200 series of trucks in Europe for quite some time now, and will re-enter the truck market with the Raider in 2006.

Honda is entering the truck market with the Ridgeline in 2005.

Even Korea is looking at the necessity of entering the truck market, with the Kia Mojave concept truck.

To grow beyond the Big 3 in America, you need a truck.

 

[1X83Z]

Either way, let's pray Toyota doesn't let their car lineup go to hell in a handbasket. As you probably see, it's been a long recovery process for Ford, GM and Chrysler to get back on their feet. That was the main thing.

I believe Toyota's car division currently is absolutely awful. They don't have a car that does 0-60 faster than 6.9 seconds, and that's a two-door Camry. The 2002 Camry is likely the worst example of anticipating market trends since the Americans let the Japanese take over three decades ago; the Celica sucks and cancellation has been forced after umpteen years because they let it go to hell; the Echo is awful; the MR2 is getting cancelled again because they took their eye off the ball; Avalon is dated and can't find a customer base. Solara, Prius, Matrix and Corolla have their strong points, but rivals offer better cars than all four of them.

To grow beyond the Big 3 in America, you need a truck.

It's a lot more complicated than that, regarding the large truck market. For one thing, the truck actually has to be good. Not just good, it has to be both more macho and better than domestic large trucks. It CANNOT be on the same level as a domestic truck, it MUST be CONSDIERABLY better, because given the choice, a hick's ("hick" being the term used to describe a pickup owner) going to choose the American truck over the Japanese one unless the Japanese one is significantly better.

Nissan realized this and in SOME regards made the right move with the Titan; it's taken Toyota twelve years and two trucks to make this realization (not to mention 1999, in which they took a sabbatical from the market only to return in 2000, again with the wrong stuff, though, in fairness, it appears they've realized it FINALLY for 2005). I fault Nissan for not offering enough bodystyles and engines though I similarly realise why they wanted to enter the market they way they did; it was a double-edged sword and it's a lot better than entering with a model called "T100" with a standard four-cylinder engine that produces less horsepower than your main competitor's midsize sedan.

One other note, if you're a Japanese company trying to sell a truck in America, it's typically a good thing if your truck isn't cancelled by the US federal government for not meeting one single safety requirement:

 

[87chevy]

I like Acura's logo a lot. It's very simple.

that's just the honda logo turned upside down and pinched at the top!!! very original

 

[Pupik]

I don't like the new logo. It looks like a too-hip design from 1989, but too "everyone-in-the-future" for my tastes.

In any case, why change logos...the current logo dates back to the early-1990's, using an surrounding ellipse around a stylized pair of ovals forming a "T". The Lexus logo, a few years older, also uses an ellipse as the boundary of their "L". And the Scion uses...you guessed it...an ellipse for the border around the "S"!

Why mess with it?

 

[The359]

This is not Toyota's new logo, it is Toyota's logo for their truck division, and meant merely for advertising. The logo will NOT appear on their cars.

See: Ford's Built Tough logo.

 

[Emohawk]

This is not Toyota's new logo, it is Toyota's logo for their truck division, and meant merely for advertising. The logo will NOT appear on their cars.

See: Ford's Built Tough logo.

Okay, good (for some reason no one had answered that yet)

Reminds me of Robocop (IE, the future as seen from the 80s)
Toyota ruled in the 80s.

 

[Z32]

This is not Toyota's new logo, it is Toyota's logo for their truck division, and meant merely for advertising. The logo will NOT appear on their cars.

See: Ford's Built Tough logo.

i concur