Quote:
Originally Posted by stomachmonkey
Car sales are very healthy. The recall has been better for business than CFC.
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I find that very hard to believe.
First off -- a busy sales floor doesn't necessarily mean good sales.
Secondly -- seven of their top cars have been marked as "unsellable."
So what are they selling, dozens and dozens of FJ's? Doubtful.
These multiple recall issues will likely put huge dent in Toyota's sales and reputation. It will hurt Lexus as well.
Given the current state of the auto industry, this could not have happened at a worse time for Toyota, IMHO.
It is going to be interesting to see how this pans out in the short term. In the long term, I am certain that Toyota will get through -- but the 2010 year looks pretty grim for them on two fronts:
1. The cost to do all these recalls will be very, very high.
2. Short term sales will take a dive.
3. There is very little emotional appeal in Toyotas -- they build perfect cars. Perfectly reliable, perfectly functional, and perfectly
boring cars. No passion, no excitement. Take away reliability, and you are left with not a whole lot of excitement. And let's face it - lots of folks buy their cars on the emotional connection. Maybe this will help Toyota to realize they need to update their lineup with some more cool cars - like the AE86, the MR2, and even the Supras and Celicas of days gone by.
Then again, I'm not a car market analyst, so what do I know?
-Z-man.