Toyota has one of the highest loyalty rates of any car brand, something it's earned over decades of building reliable cars and treating customers fairly. So when one of its managers hears stories similar to that of a customer of twenty years switching brands because of the poor treatment received at a dealer, you can rest assured that the carmaker's service experience will be changing, and changing fast.
The plan now is to improve the whole 'Toyota experience' of buying, owning, and maintaining one of its cars. "It's a movement, not a program," explained Jack Hollis, the corporate manager with Toyota's U.S. sales subsidiary who heads the EM2 initiative - Toyota's Everything Matters Exponentially plan.
The carmaker is rapidly expanding all over the globe, but at the same time it's facing new challenges that have the potential to tarnish its reputable image. The major issues are the growing number of vehicle recalls and a jump in the level of unscrupulous dealers that are overcharging customers for routine maintenance and simple repairs. Finally, Toyota has been slipping in the latest J.D. Power Initial Quality Survey, and is now behind arch rival Honda.
Can EM2 turn Toyota back into the carmaker that allowed it to reach the number one spot? Only time will tell.
[Source: The Car Connection]
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