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Toyota has just announced a $1 billion marketing campaign for the fourth quarter this year. The amount is nearly 40 percent higher than the automaker usually spends for the period.
With the end of the year typically being the strongest time for automotive sales, Toyota is ready to play hardball.
“We’ve stopped playing defense. It’s time to go on the offense,” said Irv Miller, group vice president of corporate communications. Miller also added that it’s “more than we’ve spent before” in the same time span.
The announcement came earlier this week at a dealers’ conference in Las Vegas. The annual “Toyotathon” sales event set to begin in November is Toyota’s big sales push for the year.
The Japanese automaker was the top-selling company under the Cash for Clunkers program. Hugely successful during the program, Toyota is still trying to replenish its vehicle stock. The Prius, currently with a 4-day supply, leaves the automaker short of its 30-day inventory goal.
Source: MSNBC.com
Um, are you sure this is a good idea, Toyota? Honda also decreased production earlier this year and shot itself in the foot doing it. The Acura dealer I work at got in something like 25 cars in the past 24 hours and we were rushing to get the cars ready for the lot; people have been calling for weeks just to see what we have as our new inventory has been bleak at best.Keep the $1 billion Toyota, and use it to produce more product. This makes a lot more sense.