Toyota has got some big problems. Some of the worst problems anyone in the car business could even imagine. Cars that take off to high speeds on their own is bad enough, but add the problem that these cars may not stop, I’d say is a pretty BIG problem. Thinking about this today with all of the congressional hearings made me think about a post I’d made some time ago titled; “Nothing Happens Until After The Sale…and other outdated ideas“. In this post I talked about focusing on creating a remarkable product and the sales will follow as opposed to focusing on the sale and having a mediocre product.
Why didn’t Toyota listen to me?
Toyota for years has been trying to dethrone General Motors for the #1 sales spot in the world. Based on worldwide 2008 sales Toyota achieved it’s goal. Here was a typical headline: “Toyota Passes GM To Become #1″. Toyota focused on sales. For Toyota, nothing happened until after the sale. Toyota took it’s eyes off what made the company so strong, the product. Toyota was synonymous with reliability and quality. Maybe not the most stylish cars, but they’d last a long time with few problems.
Now what?
In recent announcements Toyota has said they are going to rededicate themselves to what?…Exceptional Products. Hopefully it’s not too late for them.
Toyota had some of the most loyal car buyers you could imagine. I’m sure some of them will stick with the car company in these hard times. The door is wide open for an American car company to grab some of their market share. Ford anyone? Ford has been growing in market share ever since auto bail-out. They’d be a good bet. Once you betray the loyalty of your customers, you’ve done a lot of damage that may never be undone. We’ll see what happens from here.
