If you look back at the big recalls of the past 20+ years, most of us remember them, and not just in the automotive industry:
Audi had their acceleration issue made famous in a 60 Minutes program which turned out not to be Audi’s fault, and it took them nearly 20 years to recover in the US
Odwalla, the juice maker, had e coli in their juices and very nearly went out of business because of it. I still won’t buy it.
Suzuki’s Samurai tipped over.
But Jack in the Box had e coli and they were fine in the long run. Ford’s Pinto’s blew up and Ford was fine.
So what will happen to Toyota as they recall millions of vehicles because of a problem with the gas pedal sticking? Toyota’s brand is built on the reputation of super high quality. Quality is their culture and their brand. Certainly this recall pierces through that image of perfection, and certainly we will all remember it for a long, long time.
But I wonder if it will have any meaningful impact on sales. When their competition is really Ford and GM, in the quality race those companies are farther behind Toyota than I would be in a 100 yard dash with Usain Bolt.
In fairness, the US car companies never really tried to build their brands on quality, they built them on warranties. When the ads talk about ten year bumper-to-bumper warranties, I hear “sure it’s going to break down a lot, but we will fix it for free” and that message has worked for a long time.
My point is, the Toyota value proposition is different from all the rest, and one mistake on one part is going to tarnish, but not blow up the Toyota brand and I doubt very much there will be any shift in customer loyalty. I am also confident that Toyota will punish themselves for this more than any public humiliation they face, so my guess is that Toyota will be higher quality than ever as a result of this.
No major rethinking needed at Toyota on this one.
-Ric
MM says
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.