Comments on: The Toyota recall is awful for the Toyota brand, but will it hurt sales? http://ricmerrifield.com/2010/02/the-toyota-recall-is-awful-for-the-toyota-brand-but-will-it-really-hurt-sales/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-toyota-recall-is-awful-for-the-toyota-brand-but-will-it-really-hurt-sales A business manifesto for cutting costs and boosting innovation Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:52:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: MM http://ricmerrifield.com/2010/02/the-toyota-recall-is-awful-for-the-toyota-brand-but-will-it-really-hurt-sales/#comment-101 MM Thu, 04 Feb 2010 09:02:44 +0000 http://www.ricmerrifield.com/?p=1058#comment-101 I believe the opportunity for Ford (maybe even GM) to do some damage is a bit higher than some might believe. Not since I drove a Jeep in high school (20+ years ago) have I owned an American made car - the build quality and styling has been woefully inadequate with most of the brands. However, in the past year I have ridden in a few late model Fords...and you know what?...it was pretty damn impressive. The doors shut tightly, road noise was minimal, they handled well and they had nice lines. If Toyota's blunder gets 10-15% of the car buying public to test drive a new American car, it might just be the opening they need. Remember what Racine said years ago, "Satisfaction = Results - Expectations". What is Detroit's trump card at the moment? The fact that expectations are 2" off the ground. I bet they win back (and satisfy) a good number of customers. Time will tell. I believe the opportunity for Ford (maybe even GM) to do some damage is a bit higher than some might believe. Not since I drove a Jeep in high school (20+ years ago) have I owned an American made car – the build quality and styling has been woefully inadequate with most of the brands.

However, in the past year I have ridden in a few late model Fords…and you know what?…it was pretty damn impressive. The doors shut tightly, road noise was minimal, they handled well and they had nice lines.

If Toyota’s blunder gets 10-15% of the car buying public to test drive a new American car, it might just be the opening they need.

Remember what Racine said years ago, “Satisfaction = Results – Expectations”. What is Detroit’s trump card at the moment? The fact that expectations are 2″ off the ground. I bet they win back (and satisfy) a good number of customers. Time will tell.

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