Toyota has already lost its number 1 ranking, no thanks to the March 11 disasters in Japan.  Now its heading down to number 3.

General Motors is now the number 1 world producer of cars, not just because of what happened in Japan, but because GM’s sales are taking off in China.  Who’s about to become number 2?  Volkswagen.

VW is expected to produce 7 million cars by the end of 2011, right behind GM.

Japan is now rethinking its “just in time” supply system.  The March 11 disasters reveled the inherent flaw in the system, especially without any back up systems in place.  A “just in time” system is a house of cards, just pull one or two, and the whole house comes down.