Japan Delighted By America
Arriving in Tokyo on a Tuesday noon, I find the Japanese delighted by the news of the rebounding U.S. auto sales.
To their utmost enjoyment, “Toyota’s sales grew at almost the same pace as Ford’s, rising 24.4 percent to 157,439 vehicles from a year earlier,” says The Nikkei [sub].
In the don’t mess with success department, Toyota will extend its U.S. incentive program for a third month with zero-percent financing and free maintenance. Lexus will offer cheap leases and discounted financing.
The fact that Nissan is up 35.1 percent to 63,769 units, and Honda is up 12.5 percent, to 113,697 did put smiles on Japanese faces, disturbed by wrinkles over Hyundai’s 30 percent gain (to 44,023 vehicles.)
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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Maybe he's been getting more fiber in his diet?
He's SMILING!!. I feel better now.
Come on!! He just cashed the check from Toyota USA.
Reports of Toyota's demise during the gas pedal recall were, of course, exaggerated. It would take a lot of bad press over a long time to hurt their reputation substantially. It was not just two or three missteps by GM that hurt them. It was prolonged, sustained quality/labor cost issues that led them into becoming a federally owned car company.