26 Results

The job cuts at Toyota this week — based on performance criteria — was a direct consequence of the mining boom and the high Australian currency.

Despite receiving over $100 million in government handouts, Toyota’s Max Yasuda has presided over plummeting sales and retrenched 350 workers at Altona, the company’s biggest car manufacturing plant.

Much damage can be done in the name of industry assistance by state governments.

Crikey media wrap: Toyota employees were told yesterday that 350 jobs are to be axed from its Altona North factory in Melbourne, in a decision that will affect the entire industry.

With Toyota having recall after recall, yet still having issues with Sudden Unintended Acceleration, is it a surprise that consumers are so scared of new automobile technology? Glen Fuller explains.

Toyota has joined the pantheon of car companies that have erred on the side of lethal danger, writes Binoy Kampmark.

Toyota launched Australia’s first locally-produced hybrid on Monday, but the event has been smothered by the latest recall to hit the battered carmaker, writes James Stanford.

Toyota’s image is taking a huge battering, with the company recalling thousands of cars around the world — including 2400 in Australia. President Akio Toyoda takes to the WashPo’s op-ed pages to explain how he plans to repair public trust in the company (might take a few weeks — need to get parts in from overseas…)

Toyota is about to face investigation over its massive recall and dodgy brakes, but half the politicians doing the “investigating” have close ties and vested interests with the company, according to an AP report.

Toyota is recalling about 270,000 Prius cars in the US and Japan due to dodgy brakes — and Australia could be next. But here’s the kicker: according to CNN, the company knew as far back as January, and said nothing, putting thousands of lives at risk.

A new ad for Toyota featuring a girl’s father and boyfriend having an innuendo-laden conversation about taking her virginity with lines like “I’ll have her on her back by 11” and “She can take a good pounding” is causing a bit of a stir online. Toyota says it’s “funny”.

Manufacturing the Toyota Prius produces more CO2 than normal cars, so the company came up with a novel solution: engineer a new species of flower to plant around factories that reduces the temperature and the energy needed for cooling, thus offsetting the carbon emissions.

Hair dryers, manscaping and eating tofu? That’s no real man. Except, ads focused on a false idea of manhood are just as damaging as the “real women” concept is for females, writes Clem Bastow.

When people think hybrid, they still think Toyota’s Prius. Perhaps that’s why Honda’s Insight hybrid alternative isn’t setting the market on fire, despite being priced lower.

Although Toyota has withstood the worst of the financial crisis, profit growth has all but stalled, writes Glenn Dyer.

General Motors has just endured its worst month for sales since the end of the Second World War, writes Glenn Dyer.

If Toyota thought it was going survive the US car market slowdown, it was wrong, writes Glenn Dyer.

The Australian took a lead yesterday in its reporting of the Toyota deal, but now it seems that it stuck its neck out way too far, writes Margaret Simons.