Brand loyalty is more than a reoccurring purchase – especially in an automaker’s case, where consumers might find it difficult to purchase a car more than once every couple of years. Brand loyalty is an emotional tie-in to the product and the company. People buy Toyota cars not because of the features, the color of the car, the price, or because of the convincing spiel of the sales representative; they buy Toyotas because they are Toyotas – a brand we have trusted for years.
When a company hits a proverbial wall, the consumers’ loyalty to the brand is tested. Toyota released a press release on January 21st about the voluntary recall of certain makes and models, some dating back to 2007, due to a sticking accelerator issue. For consumers who were not checking on Toyota’s Press Room website on a regular basis, they heard about the recall either on the news or through word of mouth. Like any other spread story, facts get twisted and soon enough I was hearing that the recall could even affect my ’98 Corolla.
During any brand crisis, consumers look to the company to inform them and in this case, they were left disappointed. In an NPR interview, Dartmouth professor Paul Argenti pointed out three things that Toyota did wrong, saying, “It (Toyota) didn’t help people understand what it was doing to fix the problem, it didn’t apologize in an appropriate way, and it wasn’t humble enough in addressing consumer concerns.” Last week Toyota had finally issued a formal apology, but it was at a hastily called news conference and its genuineness is questioned. The recall affected not only dealerships and rental companies but competitor’s advertising and consumer opinions as well, testing the limits of Toyota’s brand loyalty.
The media, social and traditional, is flooded with opinions on the quality of Toyotas in light of the recall. The balance of negative to positive feedback is fairly level but what is interesting to note is that the feedback from actual Toyota owners is positive and their loyalty is steadfast. As a Toyota owner and daughter of Toyota owners, one easily-fixed issue won’t sway me. Hyundai can do all the quirky ads they want – but as long as I still see 10 and 20 y/o Toyotas on the highways, I’ll stick with what lasts.