Would You Buy a Toyota?

Toyota announced today that it was going to raise the price of five of its vehicles, starting in May. What does this tell us about how Toyota is doing...and how its competitors are doing? Toyota's P/E ratio is hovering around 60, which is high compared to Honda (30.9x) and General Motors (5.6x). At the same time, the New York Times reported earlier this month that while Toyota has retained the number three spot on the Consumer Reports Automaker Report Card, "they seem to be cheapening vehicles," according to David Champion, senior director of Consumer Reports automotive test center. Champion said "the test-track performance and interior fit and finish of Japanese cars were not up to the standards of previous models."

So what does it all mean? From a personal perspective, I remember renting a Toyota Camry about ten years ago and falling in love with how smooth the ride was and how much better the visibility was compared to the Honda Accord I had purchased two years before. Sadly, the car that I became infatuated with is no longer being made. Toyota the company has had to overcome the Japanese tsunami as well as one recall after another. And so the question becomes:

Do you want to drive a Toyota? And what about buying its stock?

 

Well if it maintains the P/E, it should potentially go up. Unless they lose a significant amount of customers. I've always thought of Toyota and Honda as somewhat of cult driven companies. I have met many people that swear by their reliability, and the fact that the prices are rising could be reflective of the fact that they want to up the performance and feel of the vehicles to meet Consumer Reports' demands.

 
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