Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) origin in Japan is the largest world’s largest auto manufacturer, offering a full range of models. Toyota has International presence in 170 countries and employs over 3,15,000 employees worldwide. It has Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino sub brands under its ownership. Toyota manufactured around 9 million vehicles in the year 2008 including these sub brands.
TOYOTA AS A BRAND:
The positioning of a brand is done keeping in mind where the company wants the people to see the brand and where exactly do they want the brand to go. The positioning is an important part of the Global Vision of the company.
Toyota’s Brand Communication talks about “Moving Forward”
This tagline embodies the spirit of constant innovation on the part of Toyota. It lends the associations of quality and technological capability to the brand.
In India Toyota has a tagline “Quality Revolution” which signifies unmatched quality.
Toyota Brand Positioning:
• Majestic
• Quality
• Commitment to improving society
• Innovation in Technology
Toyota Brand Image:
A dipstick study indicates that people associate Toyota with:
• Quality
• Value for money
• Ecofriendly
The reasons for its success could be attributed to the following factors:
• Successful brand - Toyota has developed a trusted brand based on quality, good performance and for being environmentally friendly.
• Innovation - Toyota is at the forefront of car manufacturing innovation. It was the first car manufacturer to embrace lean manufacturing (known as Toyota Production System) which is a faster, more efficient process which leads to less waste compared to the traditional batch and queue method of manufacturing. It also applied JIT (Just in Time manufacturing) and smart automation. Toyota has moved to a global manufacturing model. It successfully localizes the production to cut costs
• Product Development - Key to the success in the car market is new models, which stimulate