By Kim Da-ye
Toyota Motor Group CEO Akio Toyoda impressed some Korean journalists with his modesty and politeness during his first trip to Korea, Saturday and Sunday.
Toyoda courteously bowed to the staff members at a Toyota showroom in southern Seoul and shook hands with each reporter attending the press meeting.
At the gathering he mentioned that he rarely travels before the general meeting of shareholders held in June, but did this time to participate in an event organized by Korean dealers and to thank Korea’s support for earthquake-struck Japan.
That’s nice of the Toyota chief, but his visit left many observers wondering about how desperate Toyota has became.
Toyota has had a series of bad luck. The world’s largest automaker recalled more than 8 million vehicles worldwide between 2009 and 2010 with its reputation for offering quality cars at reasonable prices tainted.
As Toyota tried its best to recover, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake hit eastern Japan in March. Toyota’s plants weren’t badly hit, but its subcontractors weren’t so lucky and this slowed the production of vehicles.
Toyoda said at the meeting that the supply of some 500 auto parts ran into problems from earthquake fallout, but the number decreased to 150 in April and down to 30 more recently. He added that production would fully normalize by this November.
The down-sized supply of vehicles globally affected Toyota’s market share. In the U.S., it dropped from 16 percent to 13 percent in April and to 10.2 percent in May. Hyundai Automotive Group now enjoys a 10.1-percent market share in the key market.
While the Korean automaker emerged as its major competitor on the global stage, Toyota seems to be losing ground in Korea’s imported vehicle market.
According to Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association, Toyota sold 403 vehicles in April ― down 19.9 percent from 503 sold in March and down 40.5 percent from 677 sold a year ago.
In April 181 new Lexus vehicles were on the streets ― down 58.6 percent from 463 sold in March and down 50.7 percent from 367 sold a year ago. Lexus is the luxury vehicle manufacturing unit of Toyota Motor.
In contrast, BMW sold 2,253 in April ― down 24.4 percent from the previous month but up 129.7 percent from a year ago.
Toyoda said that the countries he visited to explain the recalls were the U.S. and China ― the world’s two largest economies. His visit here says something about the kind of heat Toyota is taking in Korea, one of the smaller auto markets.