Toyota has been very busy the past several months redeeming their reputation and coming up with new programs to help reel customers back into dealership showrooms. CNBC’s Phil LeBeau recently interviewed Don Esmond, Senior Vice President of Automotive Operations for Toyota Motor Sales, about the car company’s successful decision to extend March’s incentive offers into the month of April. Anyone shopping for a Chicago new Camry hopefully visited their local dealership before the offer expired. However, many of LeBeau’s questions imply that Toyota may be sticking with this strategy for quite some time now.
In the interview, Esmond shed some light on Toyota’s reason for the extension. He explained that since the car market is coming back, Toyota wants to take every possible advantage of the situation by ensuring dealers can participate in recent market success. The SVP pointed out that Toyota has great APR programs for six of their models, with 0% APR for 60 months – wow. I haven’t financed a new car since I leased a Honda Civic about five years ago, but 0% APR would have been extremely beneficial for someone who was still in high school, not to mention a fantastic lease program, which is also included in Toyota’s extended incentives. Given the current economy, many Chicago new Corolla shoppers will undoubtedly be attracted to these incredible offers. On top of that, the car company is also offering a two-year free maintenance program, available to all buyers – not just Toyota consumers. This means that whether shoppers are looking for a Chicago new Camry or a used vehicle of any other brand at Toyota dealership lots, they are guaranteed free maintenance on their vehicle for two years. If these offers don’t bring in more customers, I don’t know what will.
Although Toyota is extending such offers, critics feel that the car company will be unable to take them away once they see continued success with the Chicago new Corolla and other Toyota model sales. LeBeau mentioned that other automakers such as GM, Ford, and Chrysler have offered similar incentives to compete with top contenders. But is Toyota now stuck on a sort of “incentive machine?” According to Esmond, Toyota simply wants to participate in the increasing success in the U.S. auto market comeback. I guess we will just have to wait and see whether Toyota can continue to compete without such incredible incentives.
