Being crowned the leader in global automotive sales and unseating a long-reigning champion would seem to be something to brag about.

But not for Toyota. Last week’s historic achievement of surpassing General Motors in global sales, based on quarterly results, was simply confirmation that things are going according to plan, at least in terms of top-line growth. At Toyota, meeting a sales objective is expected, and not cause for champagne.

The non-celebratory stance stems from the fact that Toyota has a stated intent to become the world’s most respected and successful car company, a missionary goal with a reach far exceeding their capabilities, at least at the moment. To become the most respected and successful, you have to top the charts in every objective and subjective measure.

Quality issues are serious business at Toyota. In 2005, Toyota recalled more vehicles worldwide than they sold in the U.S. Product launch dates have been pushed back to prevent future glitches, a move that exacts a heavy market penalty far greater than the cost of development.

Subjective measures include rankings by various automotive publications, Fortune, and J.D. Power and Associates. With the exception of the Lexus brand, Toyota isn’t doing so well right now in a number of those rankings, including Initial Quality, a study of perceived defects in the first ninety days of ownership. Toyota leadership in Japan looks closely at those numbers, and has for nearly forty years (perhaps to the consternation of American executives) cultivated a close consultative relationship with David Power, chairman of J.D. Power and Associates.

At Toyota, meeting a sales objective is expected, and not cause for champagne.

In short, the only No. 1 ranking that Toyota executives really covet is the one that cuts across the board in every conceivable category. Having been integrally involved with the U.S. arm of Toyota for eight years, I can say with certainty that the organization is hunkered down, with their collective eyes glued to a dashboard with far broader array of performance indicators than just sales. Hitting a sales target is all well and good, but the issue Toyota managers are addressing at this moment is: at what cost? I can imagine the questions demanding answers: What is the per unit profit? What did we spend on incentives?

And Toyota has plenty to worry about. The economy concerns them—especially the effect of $3-a-gallon gasoline on the sales of their new full-size pickup truck Tundra, which hasn’t exactly blown the barn door down. The possibility of a re-ignition of anti-import sentiment concerns them in light of Detroit’s demise: they have even purchased billboards in Washington’s metro system advertising their American factories. Media ballyhooing about Toyota’s vanquishing GM for the sales lead doesn’t necessarily help.

In the next three years, Toyota executives already plan to build new plants in China and the United States, boost operating margins a full percentage point, grow production nearly a half million units per year, hire eight thousand new engineers, compete head-to-head with Detroit in the full-size pickup market, increase plant flexibility in the U.S., and reduce by half the cost differential between comparable gasoline and hybrid models.

Toyota is in fact pursuing perfection, understanding that they will never achieve it. But by aiming for the unattainable, they may always keep ahead of the pack.

Matthew E. May is a former Toyota advisor and the author of "The Elegant Solution: Toyota’s Formula for Mastering Innovation" (Free Press, 2006).

Image credit: Photo by Adam Jakubiak