The Big Picture

It's a funny old world when a company almost has to apologize for being good at what it does. And being very, very good at the business of making cars and trucks is precisely why Toyota is about to become the world's top-selling automaker. It's fashionable to suggest Japan's unique business and social culture has given Toyota some special advantage against western automakers. But being a Japanese company doesn't guarantee success: Nissan and Mazda both ran into financial troubles so desperate they had to be bailed out by Renault and Ford, respectively.

Toyota's success so far has a lot to do with the fundamentals. Like making mainstream cars and trucks that a lot of people are happy to own. Like taking a long-term view of the business rather than trying to puff the numbers to please Wall Street every quarter. Like learning from its mistakes.

You can see the pieces all starting to come together as Toyota begins to chase down that 15-percent share of the global market: Lexus now has its own design, development, and engineering resources and is being sold as a brand in its own right in Japan; new diesel engines and a new low-cost small car, the Aygo, will accelerate sales in Europe; hybrid powertrains are being pushed upmarket to become a premium vehicle technology; the site of a seventh North American assembly plant will be announced by the end of the year, and plans are already in place for an eighth. Even the Toyota Formula 1 team is looking seriously competitive this season.

Toyota's already achieved plenty. But I get the feeling we ain't seen nothin' yet.