Toyota: Driving the Mainstream Market to Purchase Hybrid Electric Vehicles In 1957 Toyota introduced its first vehicle to the American market, the Toyopet Crown. The small, fuel efficient vehicle had seen much success in Japan, but did not fare as well in the U.S. market. With relatively inexpensive gas available in the United States, the American consumer saw no need for a reliable, fuel efficient vehicle manufactured by a foreign auto company. In its first venture into the U.S. market Toyota learned some valuable lessons; auto manufacturers must align their vehicles with customer needs and a high quality product does not always succeed in the market. Toyota found an opportunity to re-enter the U.S. marketplace during the fuel shortage of the 1970's. For the first time, American consumers were looking for fuel efficient vehicles and Toyota had the answer. In 1965 foreign auto groups held just 5% of the U.S. auto market. This share has steadily been increasing with foreign auto manufacturers currently holding 40% of the market. With its foot in the door of the U.S. market, Toyota developed a reputation for designing simple, fuel efficient, reliable, affordable vehicles. In April 2003, with a solid reputation, low cost flexible production, and more than $134 billion in cash and assets, Toyota set its sights on becoming the largest auto manufacturer in the world. The auto industry and the environment in the U.S. had changed dramatically since Toyota hit the U.S. scene almost 50 years ago. In the 1950's there were 50 million vehicles on the roadways, this number had increased to just under 500 million (a 90% increase!) before the new millennium. Carbon dioxide emitted from the traditional combustion engines in aut... ... middle of paper ... ... technology. Toyota should continue to leverage their status as the market leader in innovative auto manufacturing by committing resources to the research and development of fuel cell vehicles. Toyota should also bridge this gap between hybrids and fuel cell by developing technology that is adaptable to both vehicles. With continued success in innovation and production of hybrid vehicles, combined with licensing agreements with other manufacturers, increased government emissions regulations, and a complete integrated marketing campaign, hybrid vehicles will take a strong hold of the U.S. market. Toyota is well positioned to become the global standard in hybrid electric vehicles. With its reputation as the market leader in this category Toyota is in an auspicious position and could soon reach its goal of becoming the number one auto manufacturer in the world.
Increasing environmental awareness, coupled with a responsible American government and improved technology, have all contributed to the comeback of low-and zero-emissions vehicles in the US. It remains to be seen whether the automakers and oil companies will once again work to halt this progress, or embrace it as the technology of a more responsible future.
A hybrid vehicle is a vehicle that is powered by two or more power sources to move the vehicle (Lampton 2009). Among the types of power sources are electricity, petrol, and hydrogen gas. As of 2011, the world’s best selling hybrid, the Toyota Prius, on sale since 1997 has sold over 3 million units worldwide. Sales of other hybrids are also picking up. (Schwartz 2011)
Lexus Hybrid 2012 - Introduction Hybrid cars is increasing the price of fossil fuels is becoming more popular these days. A hybrid vehicle uses a combination of a conventional system with an internal combustion engine with an electric drive. Hybrid cars are made in the form of hybrid cars, trucks and buses. Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of Toyota Motor Corporation, which also happens to be the largest automaker in the world.
There has been many new technologies that are surfacing into our generation. These inventions are created in order to help protect our planet and help people to start being more efficient while using energy. One of these inventions is hybrid cars.
It is also interesting to see how the number of years to produce one million cars has increased since the 80s. By investing 25 million EUR in technologies, the firm managed to reduce CO2 emissions by 20%. (Turi et al 2015)
Toyota is Japan's biggest company and the second largest in the world (the larger being General Motors). The company is immensely profitable, and its massive reserves dwarf those of many countries. Toyota's vehicles are generally highly regarded for their quality, proficient engineering, and value; but their designs are ...
Toyota Motor Corporation operates globally with the automobile industry, which includes 522 worldwide subsidiaries (Toyota, 2010) (Sagepub, n.d.). Toyota's mission is aligned with the needs of their stakeholders to a degree. Toyota's mission is in line with long-standing philosophies; they have designed their mission to supersede short-range decisions. Toyota's philosophical principle is to "work, grow, and align" the enterprise in the direction of a universal rationale, which the Toyota Motor Corporation states is "bigger than making money" (Toyota, 2010).
Hybrid electric vehicles have been around as early as the 1800s, but cost and technology were not perfected to produce a hybrid engine that would be cost-effective for consumers. H. Piper, an American engineer, filed for a patent in 1905 to produce the hybrid engine he invented. By the time Piper’s patent was accepted, Henry Ford had developed the assembly line and destroyed any further interest in the hybrid engine Piper invented. In 1931, German inventor Erich Gaichen built a hybrid electric vehicle which resulted in Toyota utilizing the technology for the popular Prius design introduced to the United States in the summer of 2000. It was not until 1993 that the Department of Energy introduced the HEV program which consisted of three of the largest auto brokers partnering together to produce HEV’s available to the public by early 2000. Every car manufacturer has now produced a hybrid vehicle to meet the requirements of consumers in today’s market.
Toyota’s uses both differentiation and low cost as generic strategies to try and gain a competitive advantage over their competitors in the automotive industry. The market scope that Toyota uses is a broad one that encompasses nearly every type of customer that is in the market to purchase an automobile. Toyota is able to target such a large market because they have something for everyone. Toyota has four wheel drive trucks and SUVs for the outdoor types or those who live in areas that face severe weather conditions, hybrid models like the Prius for the eco-friendly customers that are interested in saving the environment, along with the standard cars for general, everyday use. Additionally, Toyota provides vehicles for all price ranges.
Toyota Motor Corporation is one of the largest automakers in the world. At its annual conference in Tokyo on May 8, 2008, the company announced that activities through March 2008 generated a sales figure of $252.7 billion, a new record for the company. However, the company is lowering expectations for the coming year due to a stronger yen, a slowing American economy, and the rising cost of raw materials (Rowley, 2008). If Toyota is to continue increasing its revenue, it must examine its business practice and determine on a course of action to maximize its profit.
Toyota- focused differentiation, medium pricing, breadth of product line is low. Company is known for quality products, and nice styling.
(5) Liker, Jeffrey K. The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Print.
Vehicles in this day and time are nothing like what they used to be. Over half of the car manufacturers are now trying to build new cars and trucks to be as fuel efficient as they can be. Although hybrids conserve more gas than standard vehicles do, they use gas, also. Hybrids do not use as much gas as the ol...
Toyota has adopted an expansion strategy aimed at increasing the company’s market share through sustainable growth. This will be done based on the delivery of high quality, and safe cars, at an affordable price. As the company seeks to expand to new markets, focus will be on maintaining an organizational culture that allows optimum efficiency in the ever dynamic global market.
The nonmanufacturing companies can learn and apply from Toyota’s philosophy and practices as listed below: