The Crank: After its annus horribilis, Toyota Canada perseveres

By John LeBlanc Making lemonade from lemons. That seems to be the mantra around Toyota Canada these days. After what is admittedly a less than successful 2010, I recently had the chance to sit down with Toyota Canada’s head man, managing director Stephen Beatty, to get his straight reactions to some of the issues brewing with the automaker’s three Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands it sells in Canada: The Crank: Needless to say, the ongoing recall mess is having an affect on your company's sales. But right now, where does Toyota Canada stand fixing all those recalled cars from the past year? Beatty: We’ve fixed 97 per cent of the cars that were recalled. While our goal is 100 per cent, in reality, there will always be cars in the system that won’t make it back to our dealers—for various reasons. But we’re following up with the customers that have already received their notices, and we’ll keep doing that until we feel we’ve exhausted the process. When do you forecast Toyota Canada’s sales will return to pre-2009 levels? We’re more concerned about the process than the results. We need to get it right. There are no sales goals. Although we’ve been more aggressive with our purchase incentives lately, we think the 16 new models we’re introducing over the next 18 months will bring customers back into our dealers and create some excitement. The new 2011 Corolla [above] represents what you can expect from us in the near future. It goes on sale in January, and is the first model that will receive our new Star Safety System that includes six active safety technologies as standard equipment—a clear commitment to our customers that no matter which Toyota they choose, safety comes standard in every vehicle. In regards to Lexus, what can Toyota Canada do to expand its sales beyond the RX crossover, which makes up about half of the brand’s sales in this country? As you know, we’ll have the new CT 200h compact hybrid coming in the spring. And after that, we’ll be offering specific-to-Lexus products that will add volume and a clear distinction from our other brands. Finally, Toyota’s newest brand to Canada, Scion, only introduced a couple of months ago. Although the company has stated it wants to sell about 12,000 to 13,000 Scions in Canada annually, only a little over 500 have been sold up to the end of November. Scion is more of a marketing experiment. In fact, the tC and xB are outperforming our expectations. Conquest sales indicate we’re bringing in non-Toyota customers, and the average age is about 35 years old; about 10 years younger than the typical Toyota brand customer. --------- So there you have Toyota Canada’s positioning. But what do you think? Is the automaker doing enough to win back disgruntled-with-the-brand new car buyers?

Comments