Underwater with Bad News, Toyota and Honda Struggle to Find the Surface

For Toyota, things may still be going from bad to worse. Meanwhile for Honda, things may be moving from absolutely awful to simply unbearable.

On Tuesday, Toyota posted second-quarter results that read like the report card of a company in big trouble. Profits fell by 19 percent from a year earlier in the third quarter, as a surge in the yen weighed on Toyota's overseas profits. Toyota continued to struggle to restore its global supply chain after Japan's earthquake and tsunami, to supply its dealers in North America and elsewhere with all the vehicles they are used to having in their showrooms. Even by the end of last month, one month after the close of the third quarter, Toyota still hadn't achieved full supply in the U.S. market.Continue reading...