Relying on "bowing" to be the first in the world, Toyota has taught other brands a hard lesson

Text/Tao Li

As expected, Akio Toyoda, chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation, recently stood up and bowed and apologized again, but it has been more than a month since his last apology.

In December last year, Daihatsu Industries, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation, reported that the data was falsified, and the third-party committee found 174 violations of the company's operations in the review and supervision, including falsifying safety crash test data. Subsequently, the company announced the suspension of all model shipments, and has been confirmed to be involved in illegal operations of 64 kinds of models, although it does not involve the domestic market, but still makes people panic, many car owners even have the idea of returning the car.

The one involved in the counterfeiting is another subsidiary of Toyota Motor - Toyota Industries Corporation.

According to the news, 4 engines produced by the company were exposed to "fraud in exhaust emission test data", of which 3 automotive diesel engines were adopted by 10 models of Toyota. At the same time, Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said that since last year, at least eight engines produced by Toyota Industries have been exposed to exhaust emission test fraud.

In fact, if you want to count the incidents about "Toyota fraud", there are not a few, and each time they just bow and apologize.

From the "craftsman spirit" to the "craftsman spirit", what Toyota has brought to consumers all over the world is not just a joke, but more importantly, worry, how many such things are worried, how many times will Akio Toyoda "bow", and how long can the myth of Toyota cars be maintained?

As a world-renowned car brand, Toyota's global influence is obvious to all. Last year, Toyota's global sales reached a new high of 11.233 million units, a year-on-year increase of 7.2%, and it has been the global car sales champion for four consecutive years.

At the same time, Toyota's financial report for the second quarter of fiscal year 2024 (July-September 2023) shows that Toyota's sales revenue during the reporting period was 11.43 trillion yen (about 556 billion yuan), a year-on-year increase of 24%, far exceeding many domestic car companies. Even as the impact of the new energy market intensifies, Toyota Motor is still confident that it will raise its operating profit target for fiscal 2024 to 4.5 trillion yen (about 30.15 billion U.S. dollars) from the previous 3 trillion yen.

If Toyota can sit on the first throne in the world only by fraud and "will apologize", Toyota can be regarded as creating a myth, but behind the formation of one myth, it is precisely the collapse of another myth.

Behind the success of Toyota, it has been inseparable from its brand image of "quality and safety model", taking the domestic market as an example, the idea of "buying Toyota cars with closed eyes" still exists until now, and the classic saying of "one car for three generations" is even more impressive. Looking at it now, Toyota may just be on the surface.

The frequent rumors of fraud also make more people understand why Toyota, which is known for its "safety and reliability", has always been "never lost in the test, never won in actual combat", and the gradual reversal of word of mouth has also made the quality myth of Toyota begin to collapse. It is not difficult to guess that this will inevitably be followed by a decline in sales, which has gradually been reflected in the domestic market.

Toyota's sales in the Chinese market in 2023 will be 1,907,587 units, down 1.7% year-on-year. In addition to the impact of new energy vehicles, one of the reasons may be the above-mentioned changes in consumers' perception of Toyota.

Write at the end:

Recently, Tsuneji Sato, president of Toyota Motor Corporation, also bowed and apologized in public, and said that he would "deeply reflect". But judging from a series of recent events, it is clear that Toyota's introspection does not seem to be deep enough, and how long can the trick of constantly falsifying and apologizing in exchange for consumer trust continue?