Toyota Australia Case Study

Company analysis

In a country that has car ownership levels exceeding 60% of the population, high imports and higher production costs compared to China and Thailand (Australia Autos Report Q1 2013). Toyota has managed to become the leading manufacturer, distributor and exporter of vehicles in Australia. The success story dates back to 1958 where Toyota Land Cruisers were imported and the first production plant was established in 1978 in Altona,

Victoria. By 1992 one million cars were built locally (Wiki).

The mission statement of Toyota is to- deliver outstanding automotive products and services to our customers, and enrich our community, partners and environment (Toyota.com.au).

The automobile industry in Australia compromises of a number of competitors for Toyota and they are GM Holden, Ford, Mazda Motor, Hyundai, Nissan and, Mitsubishi, Volkswagen, Subaru, Honda. Toyota currently has a market share of 18%, according to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI).

TOYOTA Australia have boosted quality and customer satisfaction measures by diverting resources to Melbourne-based customer quality engineering group to drive quality to the next level. Included are fast response times and improved communication with customers, increase safety related decisions and human

resources issues (BYRON MATHIOUDAKIS).

As of end-October 2012, Toyota positioned itself with market share of 19.4% in second place is GM Holden

10.7% share and then Mazda Motor 8.1%share (Australia Autos Report Q1 2013). Toyota Australia opts a more “visionary” approach to designs of the new vehicles and transforming its innovation strategy. These projects of modernization slope so they suit the needs of individual markets (Reuters, Wall Street Journal, New York Times). The core strategy for promotion is heavily dependent on television advertising, supported by radio and print advertising, direct mail and sponsorships (Clow and Baack, 2004; Duncan, 2005), and of course the Web tools (1.0 and 2.0). The key target markets are the demographic or lifestyle groups. Much motor vehicle advertising promotes vehicular functional attributes such as fuel economy, comfort, ease of handling, safety features, passenger comfort, internal spaciousness, electronic components, engineering design and so on (Wheels

Magazine, 2006; Consumer Guide Automotive Access, 2006).

Market Analysis

The Australian motor vehicle industry produce varieties of vehicles mainly include cars, sports utility vehicles (SUVs), light commercial vehicles, buses, vans and medium, heavy and special-purpose, highway trucks such as

fire trucks.

Vehicles produced