If there’s one certainty in the car business, it’s that you know a company is in trouble when their ads forgo showing off their latest models in favor of gauzy images of beloved products past. It’s a trick that the Detroit firms have played to death over their 30 years of decline, and now Toyota is dipping a toe in the soothing waters of nostalgia. For contrast, check out Hyundai’s “more-Toyota-than-Toyota” Super Bowl spot after the jump.
Incidentally, Toyota is credited with first introducing the then-innovative practice of allowing any line worker to identify defects, stop the line and formulate fixes. The model has since been adopted across the industry, and has gone a long way towards reducing the quality gap between Toyota and its competitors. By keeping a Toyota-like laser-focus on product while the big T is mired in feel-good attempts at restoring lost credibility, Hyundai shows that it has stolen more than one page from Toyota’s Detroit-killer strategy.
Did Hyundai just introduce a car you can’t find at the dealers?
Looks like the 2011 Sonata.
John
The 2011 Sonatas got dropped off at the dealers today. We got 2, with 4 more coming this week. Planned perfectly, advertise on Sunday, sell on Monday.
To be fair, whilst the nostalgic angle was a bit cringing, the rest of the advert I thought was good. I especially like the “we haven’t been living up to our standards” part. Detroit NEVER did that.
I think it was a good advert.
The Hyundai was good too.
If Toyota was that concerned about “living up to their standards” they would have done something about this a long time ago (amongst other things).
Cammy, I agree.
Toyota can certainly turn this mess around, and it’s encouraging to see that ad (maybe management needs to watch it). They can also live up to the cynicism and begin a long, GM-like decline, but given the company’s history, I doubt that will happen. Like a cleansing fire leading to a stronger forest, these recalls may be just what Toyota needed to create a strong response to growing challenges.
” They can also live up to the cynicism and begin a long, GM-like decline, but given the company’s history, I doubt that will happen. Like a cleansing fire leading to a stronger forest, these recalls may be just what Toyota needed to create a strong response to growing challenges.”
They can? It sure isn’t evident in their product offering.
@ PennSt8:
I’m not sure where you’re coming from. If Toyota continues being forced into recalls of millions of vehicles and handling those issues poorly, they may very well suffer the fate of GM. I didn’t say that was going to happen, hence the level of uncertainty in my comments. Some cynics believe Toyota is already on their way down the tubes, but I’m not one of them.
I do recall GM’s “Road to Redemption” campaign.
Detroit has done Mea Culpa ads before. GM has done at least two rounds of campaigns on that theme.
Umm… I think Toyota stopped the lines because 1) they were ordered to stop selling the cars and 2) it was probably more cost effective to fit said cars with the fixed part (and software) than retrofitting them later. Unfortuately, most Americans are dumb enough to fall for this lie of a commercial. Sure, they employ some people here, but ultimately, the money trail still ends in Tokyo. Not a horrible thing, but people need to understand that the people who work for Toyota would be working for someone else if Toyota didn’t exist. In short, the benevolence touted here simply isn’t true.
@ golf4me.
Were Toyota ordered to stop production? I’m not sure that’s true. If someone has evidence to the contrary, I’d like to see it. I’m not saying I’m right, I just haven’t seen any evidence to suggest it’s true.
Also, the whole “stop selling cars” isn’t true either. I’ve seen many reports saying that dealers can still take orders for vehicles, they just can’t deliver them.
@ Cammy: Where did the poster indicate that Toyota was ordered to stop production? On top of that how are you going to recall a vehicle for a safety defect, yet continue to sell and produce them without a fix?
You’re absolutely right, I misread the post.
On top of that how are you going to recall a vehicle for a safety defect, yet continue to sell and produce them without a fix?
I said they can take orders, but not deliver them. Therefore, when the fix comes in, they can apply it and deliver it to the customer.
As I read it, the poster was pretty clear in his comments.
Ordered to stop Selling … you can produce as many cars as you want, fill as many lots as you want … buy days supply and capital-employed will explode to infinity (truly, because the two factors that go into the calculation, sales rate (goes to zero) and units on hand (increases) are both moving in the wrong way)…
Toyota clearly stopped production to avoid filling lots of lots full of lots of cars… and having to tear-apart and repair lots of lots full of lots of cars (and inducing rework-related non-conformancies.)
The UAW would also be working somewhere else if the administration had not broken the law by modifying the debt structure and bailing them out with our money.
Probably after sucking up 101 weeks of unemployment, but eventually.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35260939/ns/business-picture_stories/displaymode/1247/?beginSlide=1
Where would people be working if not at Toyota? GM? Chrysler? Discount Dave’s second-hand furniture store?
I’ve got absolutely no idea why you folks think this company is on the down-and-out. Toyota is THE company that makes cars for two kinds of people. The first is those who are ambivalent about cars. They don’t car what it looks like as long as it’s not offensive. They don’t car what it drives like as long as it gets them there uneventfully. They don’t car if it costs a bit more than another car because they know they’ll get their money back at trade-in time. This is a very large group of people.
Then there’s the second group of people who Toyota makes cars for. It’s “People Who Really HATE cars but know they have to have one.” And that would be just about every Toyota owner I’ve met in my small town in New Jersey.
I really don’t think this is as big of an issue for the “Ambivalent” or “Hates Cars” group. And face it, they don’t read blogs about cars.
So, I own a Toyota FJ Cruiser and I’m reading this blog about cars. What category would I fit in?
@ Fonzy
The exception that proves the rule… ;)
Fonzy, since the FJ Cruiser is a “truck” and not a “car,” and you choose to not drive a car, but to drive a truck, then I’d like to thank you for helping me make my point.
Toyota cars are for people who either hate cars or are ambivalent about cars. Hurray for driving appliances!
Fonzy,
Have your inner fenders cracked yet?
@RodP: But don’t many people hate cars because of the Big-3-ring-circus-nature of the auto business?
They hate the salesman, the service-writer, the district manager et al. because they have been screwed one too many times by them…
They hated cars because they had so many problems with them…
They hated Detroit’s cars because they were big, inefficient, hard to park, expensive to maintain, repair and insure…
The whole ownership experience was drudgery and they knew they were being cheated and lied to but there was no alternative, until there was an alternative (this was what gave the japanese and, later, Saturn their opening…)
Now, the best example of that alternative has lost its virginity in public (these people you cite would also have to hate current events and any kind of communication whatsoever to have missed what is going on with Toyota…), the credibility gap is presently wide open, and the longer Toyota takes to close it, the greater the lasting damage will be…
If Toyota learns from this and makes substantive changes (unlike GM’s Titanic deck chair shuffling), they’ll come out of this fine. Unfortunately, their initial, ham fisted responses show a lack of coordination and concern, and it’ll take time to repair the damage. I agree that they need to close that credibility gap ASAP, and I think the above ad is laying the groundwork for that on the PR front. Internally, those that have been griping about quality concerns (you know they exist) should be given a chance to shine. If any Toyota folks want to pass along some internal info, I’m certain TTAC would be glad to post it. :)
If Toyota works on both the perception and reality fronts, they’ll be fine. If they GM this, they’ll spin the PR wheel and make minimal internal changes. I’m sure Hyundai would prefer the latter.
I thought the Toyota commercial was pretty good. I think the author of this piece exaggerated the nostalgia angle. It was there, but mostly the commercial was about the recalls and fixing the problems. There was also an admission of having let down their customers – it came close to being an apology.
I thought the Hyundai commercial was a bit silly. 3300 quality experts? Passing a car body around the office and down the stairs? Silly.
I saw the ad today, before reading this. My reaction during the ad was that the North American manufacturers churned out crap and some serious safety defects for decades and I can’t recall them saying anything like this. It remains to be seen if Toyota is sincere, but if they are, and they fix the problem, they will come out even stronger.
I’m not a fan of Toyota, but as far as making utilitarian vehicles, it can take just as much intelligence and determination to do that well, as it does to make a sporty car. And Toyota has made some very sporting vehicles, for the niche markets. As has been said before, you can be a car enthusiast by respecting the engineering, even if you don’t satisfy your thirst for kinetic thrills in the form of driving cars.
These Toyota mea culpa commercials reminded me of the very similar commercials from GM a year ago. Can we get a side by side comparion?
I thought it was a great commercial when I saw it last night. They jumped right into the Super Bowl, and paid the appropriate premium, so you know there are some necks and reputations on the line. They HAVE to follow up, now. That’s commitment, baby.
Will they? I’m betting they do. For certain, I’m betting they continue to outperform Government Motors. Any takers on that bet?
This is probably a bit late for this comment thread, but I’ll chime in anyway.
The problem with that Toyota commercial is that it told me how they aren’t living up to my expectations and how my confidence in Toyota has (evidently) been shattered such that it needs restoring. Well, OK then. Toyota, you haven’t been living up to my expectations and my confidence is shattered. Thanks for telling me that; now I know better than to buy one.
They got caught. It’s that simple. Their cars are ugly and now everyone knows they are junk.