I believe Toyota when they said, being #1 is not their goal but profit is

[theking]

I have not seen anything that shows Toyota giving their autos away just to make their sales numbers look good like Ford does with their F-Series trucks...gener ally speaking. It's always been about profit from what I've seen over the years  :

Toyota dethrones GM as U.S. sales leader after nearly a century on top

WASHINGTON, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) outsold General Motors Co (GM.N) in the United States in 2021, marking the first time the Detroit automaker has not led U.S. auto sales for a full year since 1931.

Toyota sold 2.332 million vehicles in the United States in 2021, compared with 2.218 million for General Motors, the automakers said on Tuesday.

[DuMa]

Perhaps chip shortage has something to do with it.

It buys toyota's time to lap them perhaps

[theking]

Here is Toy's response (which is similar to their other response when they became the biggest auto company in the world years ago):

"Toyota is grateful to our loyal customers for putting their safety and trust in Toyota and Lexus vehicles. Being number one is never a focus or priority. The company’s focus has always been - and will continue to be - on being the best brand in terms of safety and quality in customers’ minds. And as part of our continuous improvement philosophy, we are always finding better ways of doing things, and ultimately make better products customers love and trust. Toyota has great products customers love, including an industry-leading 18 Toyota and Lexus electrified powered vehicles on the market (hybrids, EVs, fuel cells)."


This response was done when they took over GM as the world's top seller back in 2007?  :

“Toyota’s goal is to focus on the customer, so we’re not focused on being No. 1,”
 
Those were probably straight from Akio Toyoda’s mouth: he has stated that he doesn’t care about numbers, he cares about building good cars.

[theking]

I say Toy is focus more on profit because you just don't see the big wiggle room when negotiating as you would at a GM, Chrysler or Ford dealership on average. Besides personally buying both domestic and foreign cars, I also have relatives that have worked for both domestic and foreign dealerships and they also said the same in regards to discount gaps between Toy, Honda brands and GM, Ford brands. Even on ads, the domestic brands offer much bigger discounts from its' MSRP on average.

Therefore, Toyota doesn't really care if they're #1 or #10 as long as they are profiting...fr om what I've seen over the years..