Today's Stat

$3,814
is the per car profit differential between the Japanese three (Toyota, Honda, and Nissan) and the Detroit Big 3 (GM, FoMoCo, Chrysler).

In 2006, GM lost $146 per car. But that was an improvement over the $1271 loss per car in 2005.

Toyota, the most profitable line in Japan made an average of $1,977 per car sold.

Labor costs remain the biggest difference between the two groups of producers. Detroit has $1200 to $1500 in higher labor costs per car than the Japanese auto makers.