Toyota plans to keep pressing the advantages of its renewed mojo in the U.S. market with sportier hybrids, a greater emphasis on customer care and the possible addition of more production in Mexico to supply U.S. customers.The company has seen its market share in the U.S. slip from a peak of 17 percent in 2009 to around 14 percent this year through July, as it was afflicted by natural disasters, its safety-recall fiasco, and intensified competition that took advantage of Toyota's weakness.
Toyota plans to keep pressing the advantages of its renewed mojo in the U.S. market with sportier hybrids, a greater emphasis on customer care and the possible addition of more production in Mexico to supply U.S. customers.
The company has seen its market share in the U.S. slip from a peak of 17 percent in 2009 to around 14 percent this year through July, as it was afflicted by natural disasters, its safety-recall fiasco, and intensified competition that took advantage of Toyota's weakness.
"Of course many customers still believe in Toyota, but some don't trust us," said Kazuo Ohara, CEO of Toyota's US Sales arm, according to Automotive News. "To recover our reputation, we should get back to basics.
Toyota's year-to-date sales through August were nearly 8 percent ahead of the recovery levels of 2012, but that was still only in line with the industry's overall growth. To grow market share again, Toyota is embracing fundamentals as it did during its remarkable U.S. run from 2003 to 2008, when it could do practically no wrong. Some of those basics are elemental to the brand, such as maintining the industry's highest quality levels and providing capable and reliable vehicles in nearly every segment.
But some building blocks are new to Toyota. One is a reliance on hybrids, where Toyota essentially created the segment with Prius and now dominates it. The company wants to spruce up future hybrids with more sporty, fun-to-drive models based on a smaller motor, lighter chassis and more energy-dense battery will reportedly improve Prius fuel economy by about 10 percent or more. Earlier this month, Toyota revealed long-awaited details about its forthcoming Hybrid-R concept, which is based on the Yaris model, according to Motor Trend.
Toyota also is devoting more attention to what Ohara called "taking care of the customer." The company's Lexus brand long has made a successful priority of hand-holding buyers, but Toyota less so. The Toyota brand needs to concentrate more on customer loyalty than on stealing sales from competitors, another Toyota executive, Bob Carter, said, according to the publication. "Perhaps we were too focused on conquest and did not have an appropriate balance on loyalty," he said.
The company also may consider boosting production in Mexico to add to its capabilities to serve the US and Canadian markets as well as Mexico, according to Automotive News. Most Toyotas for American buyers aside from Priuses already are built in the United States. It's possible that output of Toyota's hybrid family could move to the Americas if volume keeps growing.
Meanwhile, there is one vestige that continues to haunt Toyota as it executes its strategy for regrowth. Company executives are testifying this week in a lawsuit filed by relatives of a woman whose Camry sped out of control and hit a tree after she was hit by another vehicle in 2009. The plaintiffs say the car should have been equipped with brake override. Alas, Toyota's sprint to the future still includes some pit stops in the past.
Last month, the automaker announced the end of its short-lived partnership with Ford for the development of a hybrid powertrain system for light-duty trucks. The companies have decided to develop their own individual systems, while Ford slowly gains on Toyota's lead in the U.S. hybrid market.
This post first appeared on brandchannel on August 29, 2013.
Published Aug 30, 2013 4pm EDT / 1pm PDT / 9pm BST / 10pm CEST