Toyota - the perfect storm

[jake75]

1. Sales are down because of consumer concern about safety.2. Used Toyota values are down for the same reason making the purchase of replacement Toyotas more expensive so Toyota will have to counter with incentives to cover both reduced willingness of consumers to pay a premium for a Toyota and these lower trade-in values.3. Residual values on their leases are now 4 to 5% higher than anticipated With $18 mil of leased cars on the books that could translate to a $900 mil loss for Toyota. [Banks that wrote leases on Toyotas will also have write-downs.]4. Monthly payments on new leases will rise due to lower anticipated residuals, and also perhaps due to higher interest on money that Toyota borrows to fund those leases.

[Kincaid]

Who knows? Maybe someday a used Vibe will be worth more than a used Matrix.

[Whelan]

There is a 2009 White Matrix XRS 5spd. at my local dealer. With 18" wheels, spoile, loaded basically. They want 23k, I could probably trade in my 05 AWD XR and get them to give me this thing for the same monthly payment I have.

[kostby]

Probably no coincidence that the NHSTA and the U.S. Government, proprietor of competitors GM and Chrysler are trying to prolong and even enlarge their smear campaign against Toyota.Here's an Autoblog link, including Edmunds.com press release noting the huge inconsistencies in deciding what constitutes a problem, and when to notify consumers -->http://www.autoblog.com/2010/0...inued