Japanese giant Toyota Motor Corp. sped past American corporate icon Ford Motor Co. last year to become the world's second-biggest car company, according to sales figures released Friday.
The ascension marks a major milestone for Toyota, which began as a small weaving factory in 1918, didn't produce its first vehicle until 1935 and as recently as 1966 sold a mere 20,000 cars and trucks in the crucial U.S. auto market.
Its overtaking of Ford -- a company that gave birth to the auto industry when it created the first mass-production assembly line nearly a century ago -- is a powerful symbol of how even the biggest names in business aren't safe from bruising competition in the global marketplace.
Toyota's preliminary figures show that the Tokyo-based automaker's worldwide retail sales climbed about 10% to 6.78 million in 2003, ousting Ford from the No. 2 spot it held for decades. General Motors Corp., with global sales of more than 8 million cars and pickup trucks, remains firmly in the No. 1 spot it has held for 75 years.
In the eyes of some industry experts, ceding ground to Toyota is a big blow for Ford. Analysts estimate Ford's worldwide retail sales for last year at about 6.4 million units. "Being second in such an important global industry can be an important marketing tool that it has now lost," said Bob Schnorbus, chief economist for J.D. Power & Associates.
But the numbers speak as much to Toyota's rise as they do to Ford's fall.
Toyota Chairman Hiroshi Okuda has set a lofty goal of capturing 15% of the global auto market by early next decade, up from 10% today. To do so, Toyota must continue to snatch business away from traditional American brands as well as Asian and European rivals.
"Toyota is pursuing world domination and doing it successfully," said Gordon Wangers, president of AMCI, an automotive market research firm in Marina del Rey.
In the U.S., Toyota now ranks fourth in passenger vehicle sales and is close to overtaking Chrysler Group for the third spot.
Last year, Toyota captured a company record of 11.2% of the U.S. auto market, where it has been the top-selling import brand since 1975. The Toyota Camry sedan was the top-selling passenger car in the U.S. in 2003 -- for the sixth time in seven years -- while the company's Lexus line was the most popular luxury brand for the fourth consecutive year.
It is because of this rapid growth that Wall Street now pegs Toyota's total stock value higher than GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler combined.
