Toyota brand boss Bob Carter said the automaker will launch special leasing and purchase deals within weeks to boost flagging volume. Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. reported October U.S. sales fell 4 percent from a year earlier. Still reeling from a series of safety recalls this year, Toyota was the only major automaker to post a sales decline last month as the overall industry advanced 13 percent.
Toyota's U.S. sales are up 1 percent year-to-date, compared to an overall market that is up 11 percent. Carter told journalists the new Toyota Care campaign that includes routine maintenance as standard for all vehicles has improved showroom traffic. He pledged to follow that with a series of financing and leasing incentives later this month during Toyota's annual Toyotathon sales event. “You will see an enhancement to marketing and incentives but [they] will remain consistent in the APR and lease arenas,” he said. “They will be the best deals of the year -- leasing and APR deals are moving the market.”
Carter added that some light truck incentives will be cash because that's what is typical in those segments, but most will remain leasing and finance deals to protect the brand. Toyota's lingering image problems from recalls and the aggressive discounts the automaker used earlier in the year may cut into sales in the fourth quarter, analysts said. “The recalls are still a black cloud around Toyota,” said analyst Jesse Toprak of TrueCar.com. “Other automakers are making better cars than a few years ago, so this damage to customer loyalty could be very costly for Toyota. There's a chance these losses are permanent.”
I think these incentives and deals are necessary for Carter and Toyota to take action in order to boost consumer sales and trust. Especially with Toyota's imagine problem and recalls, consumers are now losing their customer loyalty and Toyota's sales are decreasing. Once the " best deals of the year" take place, it will be interesting to see what happens to Totyota's sales and their corporation's image.
http://www.autonews.coms/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101103/RETAIL01/189009485/1448#ixzz14JlSM63N
It is crucial that Toyota adds incentives for consumers these days. They have still not fully recovered from their recall disaster where they lost a lot of potential customers. Toyota should focus on small cars and offer great incentives on the Prius to regain buyers for that model.
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