and
Toyota Motor Corporation
An Engineering 111 Case Study
By
James Barbour, Daniel Hui, Chaereena Sarabian, Melissa Shafer, Christopher Woo
Introduction
The automotive industry in the past couple of years has seen its fair share of problems. Following the recession of the economy and the bailout of the American car companies the future of the automotive industry looked pretty bleak. However throughout all the struggles of the economy and the car industry, both Honda and Toyota have been able to stay afloat and keep up their sales. These companies have been the leading competitors in the automotive industry few a good few decades. Both Honda and Toyota boast a long history of providing quality, reliable cars to consumers. Today the Honda Civic and the Toyota Camry are probably two of the most well known and recognizable car models. Along with these signature cars, both companies provide wide variety of vehicles ranging from hybrid cars to full-size pickup trucks. Innovations in the hybrid industry have helped increase Toyota’s success. The Toyota Prius has pretty much become the standard for all other hybrid cars. With its very recognizable style and fuel efficiency, the Prius has definitely had a hand in helping Toyota stay at the top of the automotive industry. Honda relying mainly on the reliability and quality of its smaller list of cars has remained a solid competitor with its standards like the Civic and their cross-over vehicles like their CR-V. Reliability and quality have been the main selling points for both Honda and Toyota vehicles in the past. Their innovative new designs and cars have helped to give them a significant lead over the other companies in the industry. However in the recent years, the gap between these companies and the rest of the automotive industry has drastically decreased. During the collapse of the U.S. automotive industry, Toyota and
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