The battle of the giants

The Congressional hearings surrounding Toyota’s global recall excercise continue.

Toyota’s President – Mr Toyoda reminded the congress that the brand is a major manufacturer in the US, employing approx 170,000 American people.

Yoshimi Inaba, President and Chieve Executive of Toyota Motor North America announced that the company will introduce safety systems that will  go beyond minimum US regulatory requirements.

That offers the chance for other car manufacturing brands to also announce tightened up production processes – as well as discuss their own previous records for reliability.

US brands under the strain of recovering from the general global slump may seize the opportunity to discuss their distinctive heritage and ‘homeland’ workforce of dedicated men and women who get jobs done quickly and smartly.

More than 100 Toyota dealership owners and staff gathered on Capitol Hill to support the brand.

“We take great pride in the fact that as of last night, together we’ve done over 690,000 recalls already and are pacing at 50,000 a day throughout the United States.”

Paul Atkinson, chairman of the Toyota National Dealer Council, said.

Meanwhile some of the media is  beginning to publish data pointing to the brand remaining high in drivers’ estimations.

The New York Times reported that Toyota was ranked third in the annual spring auto issue of Consumer Reports;the same positon as last year.

Rankings were based on the performance, comfort, utility and reliability of more than 280 vehicles.

Honda (which includes Acura models) and Subaru were jointly  first place, the fourth year that Honda was the leading manufacturer.

They were followed by Toyota, and Hyundai (including Kia) was ranked fourth, up from ninth last year.
Signifcantly the report said:

“American manufacturers fared poorly. Ford was ranked 11th, moving up one place from last year. General Motors and Chrysler occupied the bottom two slots, respectively.”

… So the scene is set in the battle not just for the world’s biggest car manufacturing brand – but the war against Brand Japan and Brand USA – in the aftermath of the global recession.

Talk is rife over whether the brand will recover – some of the conversations can be heard here:  toyotabranddisco

From the ashes of disaster sometimes come the roses of success

Not necessarily the end of the road for the brand

Millions of cars have so far been recalled for problems ranging from awkward floor mats to sticky gas pedals and faulty brakes.

However Toyota is not the first brand to have suffered a major recall disaster – and may not be the last.

Some of the more sensational brand slip-ups over the years include:

In 2006 Cadburys reportedly lost around £30 million following a salmonella scare.  Millions of bars were recalled.

In 2007 about 175,000 Curious George dolls were recalled because of a risk of lead poisoning.  (Although no reported illnesses came to light).

In 2000, Firestone and Bridgestone announced an initial recall of 6.5 million types; later extended to replacing a staggering 17 million tyres.

That recall was topped by the world’s largest toymaker, Mattel which in 2007, summoned back 18 million made-in-China toys because of small magnets that could be swallowed accidently.

In 2002 air bag issues led to General Motors recalling almost one million Chevrolet, Cadillac and Pontiac branded vehicles.

But the award for the most dramatic recall and recovery exercise must go to Johnson and Johnson which reportidely spent over $100 milion on withdrawing Tylenol, a non-prescription pain reliever that alegedly caused deaths through cyanide poisoning.

To the brand’s credit, decisive action and the prompt introduction of triple-sealed, tamper-proof packaging led to the resumption of sales in weeks.

So even though Toyota  acted late by not formerly investigating earlier – it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the end of the road for the brand from the land of the rising sun.

Jonathan Gabay

www.brandforensics.co.uk

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