General Motors : The Pain of second place

As its sales slid back 4% last year, GM could not have done better in proving their critiques right. Every pace it lost was awarded to a more innovative, proficient and hard working competitor. Toyota have recently displaced Ford from second place and is bound to remove GM from first place by end of this year. It is expected to out-sale GM by half a million vehicles by the end of this year. Though GM hardly has any answers, it is expected to be competitive for the coming few years until steam runs out. GM was not able to keep up in many fronts where Toyota excelled. Toyota's design, fuel efficiency, customer service and innovation proved much better for the ever selective Americans. As Toyota moves into first place, only one thing seems to be good for GM. Atleast nobody will blame them if something goes wrong. But there will be too many things that will go wrong. GM's desperation to prove it has not lost will be similar to what Ford was facing with GM's position, like Ford it has to settle for second place even though it will manage to produce some good cars. Finally, GM has to follow Industry standards dictated by Toyota lest be called outdated. But GM is lucky, it could have in-fact lost this position much earlier; if there would not have been resent and suspicion at the Japanese giant's entry. The five decades of Toyota's presence in US was in no manner a smooth journey. The Japanese giant faced hurdles from many sides, mainly from GM, Ford and Chevrolet. Toyota had and have continuously worked to give the best to the Americans not only in the core business but in social welfare, and also considered environment's well being. While GM have been concentrating on job cuts, Toyota by contrast recruited more workers and opened more factories. The position of Toyota seems even stronger considering its pending market capture in Texas and its sister states. While GM falls to second place and continues to deny it for the coming decade, one can already start congratulating Toyota for a job well done.