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Anyhoo, these "We're sorry" ads must have come from Japan...if you've never been there, you simply wouldn't understand. It is a bold departure from the American corporate credo, which is...NEVER say you're sorry.
Spare the cultural nonsense... Toyota knows what should and should not be said especially when it comes to convincing the consumer, they have teams and committees dedicated to such things. They are not your friends, you are nothing to them... they are in the business of making money and while that requires a high degree of customer loyalty and pseudo friendship at the end of the day it is still a tactic for them to profit off of you.
Anyhow, Toyota should be shamed by the great dishonor they have brought upon their name.
Last edited by Lux Hauler; 03-08-2010 at 07:13 AM..
Having been in the transportation and fleet management business for a long time, the only thing I am surprised about is how long it took for something major to rise to the surface in regards to Toyota vehicles.
I will preface what I am about to say by stating that I believe all manufacturers have their issues, what really counts for me is how those issues are handled.
Toyota and to a lesser extent Honda have spent decades carefully managing the perception of their quality. They often refuse to issue a recall even when a problem is rampant to avoid the negative press associated with it. To them Consumer Reports approval and a false quality representation are more important than doing what is right by the customer.
The current commercials and "deals" simply do not go far enough to make up for years of living off a misrepresentation of the truth. I may sound harsh, but it is coming from years of fleet experience dealing with Toyota and other manufacturers.
They need to bow a little deeper and at the very least admit to what the issues actually are before they can move on from this issue. I think Toyota needs to take a page out of the GM book. For years GM roosted on its laurels turning out inferior products and failing to acknowledge the issues they had. GM has had a big old dose of humble pie and Toyota would do well to ask for a slice.
Toyota was blinded by the drive to become number 1 and they lost sight of what made their cars great appliances (reliable yet uninspiring) 10 years ago. They cut corners, ran contrary to their own "Toyota Way" and now they are paying for it big time.
Having been in the transportation and fleet management business for a long time, the only thing I am surprised about is how long it took for something major to rise to the surface in regards to Toyota vehicles.
I will preface what I am about to say by stating that I believe all manufacturers have their issues, what really counts for me is how those issues are handled.
Toyota and to a lesser extent Honda have spent decades carefully managing the perception of their quality. They often refuse to issue a recall even when a problem is rampant to avoid the negative press associated with it. To them Consumer Reports approval and a false quality representation are more important than doing what is right by the customer.
The current commercials and "deals" simply do not go far enough to make up for years of living off a misrepresentation of the truth. I may sound harsh, but it is coming from years of fleet experience dealing with Toyota and other manufacturers.
They need to bow a little deeper and at the very least admit to what the issues actually are before they can move on from this issue. I think Toyota needs to take a page out of the GM book. For years GM roosted on its laurels turning out inferior products and failing to acknowledge the issues they had. GM has had a big old dose of humble pie and Toyota would do well to ask for a slice.
Toyota was blinded by the drive to become number 1 and they lost sight of what made their cars great appliances (reliable yet uninspiring) 10 years ago. They cut corners, ran contrary to their own "Toyota Way" and now they are paying for it big time.
I actually like the new Toyota commercials. You say "cheesy" see Geico's commercials.
The cheeziest car commercial has to be the stupid Howie Long GM ads...with the little girl whining "I want a big girl car!" Or the stupid one with him and the Honda lawnmower. Give me a break...Honda is superior to any GM pile of crap, even if the Malibu may get 1 mpg more than Accord. A lot of good that 1 mpg will do you when the Malibu is in the shop or junkyard, and the Accord is still running strong.
I have a friend who owned one of the Toyotas whose engine was ruined by sludge. You know, the ones where Toyota tried to blame the owners for not maintaining the cars properly, even though many of them, like my friend, had records that all the scheduled maintenance had been done - by a Toyota dealer? It took YEARS for the company to finally admit there was an issue with the engines. Thus, he and I were not surprised when it turned out these acceleration issues had been brewing for a long time before the company addressed them.
I was the happy owner of a 1975 Corolla and a 1993 Camry, but I'm done with Toyota. I've had a recent bad experience with a Honda Accord, too. Laugh if you want, but my current car is a Kia and it's by far the best car I've had since I sold my BMW.
Spare the cultural nonsense... Toyota knows what should and should not be said especially when it comes to convincing the consumer, they have teams and committees dedicated to such things. They are not your friends, you are nothing to them... they are in the business of making money and while that requires a high degree of customer loyalty and pseudo friendship at the end of the day it is still a tactic for them to profit off of you.
Anyhow, Toyota should be shamed by the great dishonor they have brought upon their name.
You must have me confused with someone else....I never did, and never would claim that any large corporation is my "friend"...or that they "care about me". That's absurd.
And anybody that is "loyal" to anything other than their wallet is an IDIOT. As I've said before...if and when I ever get a bad Toyota, Toyota will immediately join Ford and GM on my "I'LL NEVER BUY ANOTHER ONE" list...
Spare the cultural nonsense... Toyota knows what should and should not be said especially when it comes to convincing the consumer, they have teams and committees dedicated to such things. They are not your friends, you are nothing to them... they are in the business of making money and while that requires a high degree of customer loyalty and pseudo friendship at the end of the day it is still a tactic for them to profit off of you.
Anyhow, Toyota should be shamed by the great dishonor they have brought upon their name.
I think the engineer who designed the accelerator system committed hari kari.
I meant the "thrill" of not knowing if your Toyota is going to take off with out you. As for me, i bought a new Mustang convertible and it's the opposit of boring but in a good way.
I have had Toyota's since the 80's, different models. With my last one being a 2005 Camry. In between I have also had many other cars. The previous one was a 1997 Avalon and with the 05 Camry I have been telling everybody that the quality of this car is not on par with previous Toyota's. In this period, actually the domestics have come a long way in building good quality cars and the gap is really narrower than ever. I don't expect my Camry to last anything like my domestics despite great maintenance and care. It is only after all this media frenzy that my friends have recalled what I have been saying, before they thought I am making things up.
The ads are just ads, GM says they are better than Honda, Hyundai say they are sportier than BMW, so on and so forth.
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