Toyota president Fujio Cho, known as a champion of modesty, called General Motors a "wonderful" company yesterday and dismissed suggestions that the Japanese car frim was trying to overtake its bigger rival.
Toyota, the world's third largest car firm by sales volume after GM and Ford, has set a target of boosting its global market share to 15 per cent some time in the next decade from a little over 10 per cent now, which would likely put it ahead of GM.
"We honestly don't intend to and we're not aiming to overtake GM," Cho told an industry conference in Tokyo ahead of today's motor show there. The conference was also attended by top executives at GM, Ford and other big car makers.
Toyota's rapid growth, especially in the key US market at the expense of locals, has been further highlighted recently by data showing it outsold Chrysler - one of Detroit's "Big Three" car makers along with Ford and GM - in the US in August for the first time.
"For us, GM and the 'Big Three' have always been a presence beyond our reach, way beyond the clouds in the sky," said a modest Cho. But his characterisation appears a stretch even for Toyota, which is by far the most profitable and cash-rich car maker in the world, with $8.6 billion in net profit last year.