Toyota and General Motors capitalizing from fuel-efficient cars

With the ever rising oil prices, Ford had to cut down its output in order to meet its falling input. While manufacturers of heavy vehicles and SUV’s continue cutting down their sales, Toyota and General Motors are gaining heavily with their fuel efficient vehicles.

General Motors, the world’s largest automaker had a hot sale in August, with a 4% increase from last year’s lukewarm response in the same month.

The sale almost up by 3,000 units was hiked by the sale of its new vehicles like Pontiac Torrent, G6, Saturn Sky, Chevrolet Cobalt, Impala and Buick Lucerne, along with other fuel efficient vehicles. August was the most fruitful month for the company in 2006.

GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 33 countries and has the largest national market in the United States, followed by China, Canada, United Kingdom and Germany. Besides manufacturing cars, it also operates a finance company, GMAC Financial Services, which offers automotive, residential and commercial financing and insurance. GM's OnStar subsidiary is a provider of vehicle safety, security and information services.

Toyota, close in heels with General Motors is capitalizing from the sale of its fuel efficient cars as well. August proved to be a profitable month for the worlds second largest and Asia’s largest manufacturer.

The sale rocketed nearly 17% up from last year, with Corolla, mid-size Camry and newly launched Yaris subcompact driving the maximum profits home.

Camry was up 5.8%; the Corolla compact rose 11.5%, and dealers sold 11,392 of the new Yaris subcompact.

In 2005, Toyota held the number four spot in the automobile market, but the increase in oil prices proved to be a boon for Toyota, making it leap to the second largest position.

Toyota also provides financial services through its subsidiary, Toyota Financial Services, and participates in other lines of business. It manufactures vehicles sold in the United States under the brand names Toyota, Scion, and Lexus. Toyota also owns majority stakes in Daihatsu and Hino, and 8.7% of Fuji Heavy Industries, which manufactures Subaru vehicles.

With its headquarters in Toyota City, Japan, Toyota Motor Corporation has manufacturing or assembly plants all over the world including the United States, Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Poland, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, France, Brazil, and more recently Pakistan, India, Argentina, Czech Republic, Mexico, Malaysia, Thailand, China and Venezuela.

Honda Motor Co. didn’t score well in its August sales, yet its year to year sale has increased by 5.3%

U.S. sales for Hyundai Motor Co. totaled 44,635 units, an increase in the sale from last August, with Sonata totaling 13,184 vehicles, up from 9,965 units.

Europe's largest carmaker, Volkswagen AG has held an unshakeable momentum in its US sales.