After an initial period of turbulence and shock, Toyota's plans seem to be falling in place, and more efficiently than anyone would have thought. If you have been following the Toyota story, you can understand what I am talking about.
Since January 24, when the first recall notice went out, there was all-round pressure on Toyota. First it was the Japanese Government and then the US Congress that went around Toyota's claims of safety and past records of safety of its cars. And Toyota followed what could be termed as the only available alternative for it. Pushed to a side, it chose to keep a low profile for all hue and cry to settle down.
And then it surprised everyone by bringing in Akio Toyoda to the US Congress. First there was an admission of flawed processes and then there was an unequivocal apology to the US Congressmen Autel MaxiDiag MD802, and the Toyota owners. This, in a way did sooth frayed tempers and allowed Toyota to establish a foothold in the present crisis.
Following up on the low-key campaign, Toyota unleashed a very combative marketing strategy. This strategy was the one that was based on incentives, and inducements. It started offering discounts on established products and then brought in 0% finance charges and 2 years free maintenance. People who had been talking about Toyota in hushed tones suddenly realized that Camry, Prius and Corolla became more worthy of their purchase.
The result is that in the first few days of March, Toyota has led the market from front. Remember, that it lost substantial sales in February.
All this while, the company was on the defensive and trying new steps to win over consumer confidence. And in the middle of February, the dealerships across US started rolling out new incentives.
Within the following 2 weeks, sales got a boost. In March, it has had a 47% increase over last year's daily sales for the same period. The sales percentage through dealerships increased from 12.8 to 16.8 percent in these 3 weeks. And this takes Toyota marginally ahead of General Motors that is reporting a 12.8% share of the retail market for the initial few days of March.
These figures are likely to change in the next few weeks and it is possible for Toyota to lag behind the initial numbers. However, the fact remains that Toyota is back with a bang!!!
What would you say about the public memory? Inside 5 weeks of the first recall, we have seen an entire cycle of depression in Toyota's sales with a subsequent spurt in sales, thus making it the highest seller in retail market space for the month of March so far autel maxisys ms906.
Those who had written obituaries of brand Toyota may be wondering if they were in a hurry to write off Toyota. Yes, the initial opinion was against Toyota, but it encashed on the situation by bringing in discounts on well established cars. And money as an inducement did the trick very handsomely.
For sure, Toyota has a lot to worry about. The 89 lawsuits are worth billions of dollars. But for now, it knows that is firmly in the saddle once again; time will reveal how soon it can escape all the lawsuits as smartly as they have ducked the depression in their sales.
Lisa is an auto-specialist who tracks and reports interesting stories from the automotive world. She suggests using a Shell fuel card or an Esso fuel card for businesses.Related Links
