General Motors’ Asia Pacific president Rick Brown at the Tokyo Motor Show on Wednesday said comparing GM to Toyota is a waste of time and energy — ?????????????????????????????? — referring to the much talked about point that Toyota could surpass GM in global vehicles sold (volume) annually, as early as this year. GM’s Brown said what’s most important is to focus on design and production, as well as satisfying dealers. Have to agree with Brown on that point, but his attitude of something like who cares, “Toyota may pass GM” or “it may not pass GM”, seems inappropriate, especially at the Tokyo Motor Show.


Anyway, it’s inevitable at this point that Toyota surpasses GM in volume sales. More importantly consider the fact that Toyota’s market cap is nearly 10x that of GM’s! Toyota’s operating margins are near 10%, or more than double GM’s. And Toyota has been hiring and spending on capex, while GM has been a lot of the opposite. Interestingly, many people may not be aware that Toyota and GM actually have a long running joint venture (20 years) called NUMMI (New United Motor Manufacturing) located in Fremont, California.