Toyota Brand Audit

By: Ruikun Bai

Table of Contents

Company3-9

Category.10-11
Products within Category..11

Brand Analysis.. 11-13

Consumer Profile 13-14

Advertising/Marketing Communications 14-15

Media15-16
Promotions17

Internet and New Media.17-18

Brand Value..18

Brand Exploratory.19

Recommendations20
Sources.21

Company

Headquarters: Toyota is based in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, with its USA headquarters located in
Torrence, California. In 2017, Toyota will be moving their headquarters to Plano, Texas.
Locations: Toyota has 10 factory plants in the US and over 100,000 dealerships.

Toyota also has over 338,875 employees worldwide, and has factories in Japan, Australia, India,
Sri Lanka, Canada, Indonesia, Poland, South Africa, Turkey, Colombia, the United Kingdom, the
United States, France, Brazil, Portugal, and more recently, Argentina, Czech Republic, Mexico,
Malaysia, Thailand, Pakistan, Egypt, China, Vietnam, Venezuela, the Philippines, and Russia.

Organization and Major Activities: Toyota aims to innovate the future of mobility. Their
slogan lets go places represents the company goals of being the leading car manufacturer in
the world.
Toyota plans to achieve this mission by dividing their activities into 5 major categories:

1. Design, Research, and Development Toyota has research and development facilities
throughout the U.S. that design and create vehicles suited to Americans needs.
2. Engineering and Manufacturing Toyota has tens of thousands of engineers working
daily to improve their vehicles and themselves as a company, because they know people
rely on them for their vehicles to be safe and reliable.
3. Sales and Marketing Toyota has over 1500 dealerships in the U.S. with sales
professionals at each dealership to help connect their customers to the specific vehicles
they are looking for.
4. Financial Services Toyota has a dedicated financial services center that offers a full
range of different plans from leasing to protections plans to customer service.
5. Dealers Toyota ensures that customers will have the smoothest transition possible in
the car buying process.

Subsidaries: Toyotas subsidiaries include Lexus, Daihatsu, Hino Motors, and Toyota Kirloskar
Motors.

Brand History: Toyota was established in 1937 as Toyota Motor Co. Since then, the brand has
expanded from being just a Japanese automobile company to a leading global car manufacturer
ranking 11th largest company in the world by revenue.
Toyota Timeline:

1937 Toyota Motor Co. Established

1950 - Toyota Motor Sales Co opened

1957 Toyota Motor Sales USA opened

1995 International Business Plan announced

1999 Toyota vehicle production reaches 100 million

Financial Data:
US Sales

Worldwide Sales:

Annual Report:

It is important to remember that the many fruits that we are able to harvest today were sown
and cultivated by our hard working predecessors. It is imperative that we, too, place similar
importance on our responsibilities to plow, plant, and cultivate the seeds of the future. In this
manner, future generations can benefit from the work we do today.
-

Akio Toyoda, President of Toyota

Key Personnel:

Takeshi Uchiyamada - Chairman of the Board of Directors

Akio Toyoda - President, Member of the Board of Directors

Nobuyori Kodaira - Executive Vice President, Member of the Board of Directors

Recent News:

December 2015

Toyota launches the dynamic new Prius. The new Prius features improved driving dynamics,
evocative styling, and fuel economy of 40.8 km/L (under the JC08 test cycle). Toyota's fourthgeneration Prius launched at dealers across Japan and is targeting monthly sales of 12,000 units
in the Japanese market.

Toyota joins the FAME India Eco Drive, an event that promotes environmental friendly cars by
organizing a long distance drive featuring hybrid and electric vehicles.

Toyota signs official sponsorship agreement with International Paralympic Committee as a

Worldwide Paralympic Partner Sponsor through 2024.

Category

Category Definition: Toyota is under the category of automobile manufacturer. The world
knows the name Toyota for their automobiles.

Size of Category: Currently in the United States, there are ten main automobile manufacturers
that compete against each other.

History of Category: Automobile manufacturers started as early as 1886 when the first
motorwagon was invented. Since then, automobile manufacturers have slowly become more
streamlined and automobile companies started being formed.
Methods of Distribution: Most of the automobile manufacturers use dealerships to sell their
vehicles.

Products within Category

Share of Category by Product: Automobile manufacturers often sell many other things in
addition to their automobiles. For example, an automobile manufacturer may offer services
such as warranties, leases, and loans to customers.

Product-Form Description: Automobiles come in all different varieties ranging from both model
and year. There can be huge customizations for an automobile and depending on the company,
each individual car part may be different, as well as the different types of technology cars
nowadays can have. As of 2015, Toyota has a range of vehicles all with different specification
suited to customers wants and needs. These range from trucks to SUVs to hybrid cars.
New Product Introduction: Recently there has been a push for more environmental friendly
vehicles that are more compact but still efficient in mileage and style, leading Toyota to release
to brand new 4th generation Prius in December of 2015.
Benefits and Appeals of New Product: The benefits of the newly release Prius has a listed
mileage of 40.8 km per liter making it Toyotas most fuel-efficient model. This automobile will
most likely attract customers that like saving money on gas and/or want to help the
environment.

Brand Analysis

Top Brands by Dollar: Toyotas best-selling automobile is the Toyota Corolla, which has sold
over 40 million units since 1966. The Toyota Camry also is one of Toyotas best selling cars,
being the best-selling car in America for 11 of the last 12 years.

Growth Trends of Top Brands: In the past decade many consumers have shifted their interests
to fuel efficient cars, which explain the increase in popularity of Toyotas Prius model. As of
2014, Toyota calculated that globally they had sold over 6 million units of their hybrid vehicles.
Pricing Trends: Below are some of the pricing trends for Toyotas top selling cars.

Recent News about Competitor Brands: Some of Toyotas competitors are Ford and Honda.
Recently, a news finance article in 2015 published findings that reported Ford will surpass
General Motors in China because they have started investing in smart cars, which is starting to
become more popular in Asia. Honda has recently updated their new Honda Accords with the
newest technology that contains Apple Car Play and Android Auto.

Consumer Profile

Demographic of Consumers: Toyota in the U.S. has primarily 30-50 year old men making up
over half of the purchases, with most having post-secondary education, have a family, and are
making at least $50,000 a year. Most people that buy Toyota automobiles buy them as a long
term family car because of Toyota is known for their reliability over time.

Frequency of Purchase: On average, Americans buy new cars every ten years. This however,
depends on the type of vehicle a consumer buys and how much they drive them. With Toyota,
most consumers that buy one of their vehicles keep them for long after 10 years due to their
reliability.
Place of Purchase: Automobiles can be purchased in a variety of ways. Firstly there are the
dealerships, which sells the vehicles directly to the customer. Then there are sites such as
drivers select or cars.com that connect consumers to 3 rd party dealers. There are also used car
retailers such as carmax.
Heavy-user Profile: Heavy users of Toyota are most likely customers that have purchased and
driven Toyota vehicles before and enjoyed their experience with the features and reliability
that Toyota vehicles have to offer. Other consumers may be heavy users because they do a lot
of research on the type of car they want and Toyota is the style they are looking for.

Awareness and Attitude: Toyota customers are very aware that they purchased their vehicles
not for luxury or style but for the reliability and long term use that they will get out of the
vehicle. Toyota Prius customers are usually very conscious about the environment and know
that driving one shows they care and are doing their part.

Normal Purchase Cycle: The normal purchase cycle for Americans would be new couples
looking to start a family and need a reliable car. There are also many consumers that may
switch to Toyota because they hear good things from their friends or their current car gets too
old and they are looking for a better replacement.

Brand Loyalty: Toyota customers are usually very devoted to Toyota after purchasing their first
vehicle and using it for a few years. Many consumers will go on to buy Toyota in the future if
their current car gets too old or they need a different style of vehicle. Customers get used to
the features and feel of Toyota vehicles and they tend to stick to Toyota.

Advertising/Marketing Communications

Creative Strategies of Top Brands: Currently for the Christmas holiday season Toyota is offering
a bunch of deals on their vehicles. Some of these deals include $1000 cash back, 0% apr for 6
months, leases starting at around $269 per month on new vehicles, and the Toyota Care
program which is a no cost maintenance plan with roadside assistance on newer vehicles.
Recently in October 2015, Toyota released a limited edition Toyota Tacoma to tie in with Back
the Future Day, an extremely popular movie back in the 1990s that featured a Toyota Tacoma
as part of the main characters dream ride. Toyota released the same style of truck that was
used back in the movie and had commercial featuring the main actors that were in the film.

Examples of Past and Current Executions: Toyotas current executions of their marketing
strategies have mainly been TV commercials with a theme recently for the Christmas season
called Toyotathon. These commercials are a series of ads that have humor and show off the
special deals Toyota is offering on certain vehicles for the holiday season, deals such as; 0% APR
Financing or $1,000 in customer cash and two-year, 25,000 mile, no cost maintenance plan. In
the past year many of Toyotas other commercials have been targeted towards their truck
consumer base, with commercials relating to outdoors adventures.

Media

Category and Spending: Toyota spends most of its budget for marketing on TV commercial
spots in between movies or tv shows. A huge spot is during the Superbowl where Toyota will
spend over a million dollars to feature one of their commercials.

Seasonality: The peak of Toyota purchases are during the holiday season just like most other
automobile manufacturers. Toyota competes with other automobile manufacturers during this
time.
Regionality: Most of the advertising for Toyota and other automobile manufacturers are now
done mainly either online in blogs, articles, reviews and ads or on TV commercials. Technology
has made it easier now than ever to get a product in front of consumers eyes online.

Media Employed by Top Brands: The top automobile brands use everything from online to
dealership to radio to billboards to TV. Basically any outlet that has a media presence is going to
be used by the top brands.
Spending Patterns: The spending patterns tie in very closely with when consumers start to do
their holiday shopping. Most consumers buy new cars during the holiday season or in the New
Year to start the year with something big and new. However, there are many cases where a
consumer will want to purchase a vehicle because they are at a point in their life where they
need a new car or receive a new job or raise to where they can afford it.

Spending Compared to Market Share: Toyota as of 2015 is leading in global automobile market
share with an 11.8% market share in 2013.

Promotions

Promotions Used in Category: Automobiles have always had promotions through every form of
public advertising. Since the very beginning cars have been advertised by their looks and
features. Car dealerships have always given promotions all throughout the year because they
know that at any point in a persons adult life they may want to purchase a new car for
themselves or their family.

Website:

Digital strategies

Purpose of Site: Allows customers to see what deals are going on at the moment, new vehicles
and upgrades that Toyota has released, and any new news about upcoming vehicles or special
features. The site also serves as an information source that customers can use to find out
specifications about the different cars Toyota has to offer, as wells the locations of local stores.

Ecommerce Activities: Almost all of Toyotas customers check websites first for information
regarding the vehicles they want to purchase. They usually will conduct the research online first
and then head to the dealership to discuss in specifics.

Hootsuite Dashboard:

Social Media Strategy: The executions properly support the brand because the marketing tools
used attract people that are looking to purchase a car. Toyota maintains a strong advertisement
campaign through the holiday season because they know most consumers are looking to buy
new vehicles during that time. Toyota releases the most video ads on their youtube page and
website during this time because thats when their site gets the most visitors.
Brand Value: In 2015, Toyotas brand value went down by 2%. According to automotive news
however, Toyota still remains to be the most valuable car brand despite the decrease.
Net Worth: $239 billion

Brand Exploratory

Qualitative Research: According to http://www.howsociable.com/toyota from November 30th

to December 7th, Toyota was ranked a social media magnitude of 6.2 based off of 8 major social
media sites.

Quantative Research: From a survey on survey monkey conducted of 10 people;

8 out of 10 said that they think Toyota is a strong, reliable brand and would buy a Toyota
vehicle.
6 out of 10 said that Toyota had unique features that stood out from its competitors

10 out of 10 said that if they saw the Toyota logo or saw a Toyota Prius they would recognize it
as Toyota.
4 out of the 10 people surveyed owned a Toyota vehicle, and said that they would most likely
purchase a Toyota vehicle again if they wanted a new car.

Recommendations

Expand Toyotas development on automobiles for the millennial and wild consumer
base such as coupes, motorcycles, convertibles, etc.
Stick with the continuous improvement culture model and involve customers to give
input on what theyd like to see.
Add new associations with the brand such as luxury and comfort on advertisements.
Compare pricing with luxury vehicles and show the satisfaction rate of consumers that
buy both Toyota and a luxury brand.
Launch campaign to target the older generation easy to user interface, safer vehicle,
more reliable, etc.
Host fundraising events and scholarships for millennials studying engineering,
technicians, and the automotive industry.

http://www.Toyota.com

References:

http://www.howsociable.com/toyota

Reuters. (2015). Toyota lowers global sales targets for new model Prius amid low petrol prices
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-autos-toyota-prius-idUKKBN0TS0VK20151209
Forbes Magazine. (2015). The Worlds Most Valuable Brands
http://www.forbes.com/companies/toyota-motor/

Yahoo Finance. (2014). Why companies like Toyota lead in global automobile market share
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-companies-toyota-lead-global-170009110.html
Toyota-Global. (2014). Financial Performance

http://www.toyota-global.com/investors/financial_data/financial_data.html