Chrysler Chief : Toyota Sales Of No Concern For Us

LAS VEGAS, Jan 31, 2004; Reuters reported that the head of DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler division said on Saturday he wasn't worried about the possibility that Toyota Motor Corp. will overtake it as the third-largest automaker in the United States.

"I definitely don't fear Toyota selling more or less than we do," Chrysler chief executive and President Dieter Zetsche told a news conference on the sidelines of the National Automobile Dealers Association's annual convention.

He spoke after recent results showing that Toyota had unseated Ford Motor Co. as the world's second-largest automaker last year. His remarks were also prompted by a Reuters interview on Friday in which a senior Toyota executive predicted the Japanese juggernaut would grab more U.S. market share this year.

"We have growth plans as well ... volume plans," Zetsche said.

Chrysler, which is struggling to return to long-term profitability, saw its share of the U.S. market dip 0.3 percentage point to 12.7 percent last year. Toyota's share, while still a long way off, continued the seemingly relentless march it has enjoyed for decades to rise 0.8 point to 11.2 percent.

In the hypercompetitive U.S. market every sliver of share is fought over tooth and nail or bolt by bolt.

"If you add up the sales plans of all manufacturers in the U.S. for this year, like for the past years, you would end up with -- I don't know -- 120 or 130 percent market share," said Zetsche, mocking not just Toyota but other automakers forecasting near-term growth in their hard-fought U.S. market share.

"I don't expect that they (Toyota) will surpass us, but if so that's a nice headline for you but not a major concern for us," he said.

Toyota, the biggest and most profitable of Japan's Big Three automakers, has set a goal of seizing 15 percent of the world's car market some time in the next decade, from about 11 percent now.

While that would likely leave Chrysler in the dust in the United States it could also could put Toyota ahead of General Motors Corp. as the biggest automaker anywhere around the globe.