Toyota Motor Corp. has launched new promotions in China, fighting to keep sales in the world's car biggest market on track after its reputation was dented by a slew of recalls.
The 75,522 RAV4 sport-utility vehicles recalled by Toyota in China in late January are a tiny fraction of the 8.5 million vehicles the automaker has pulled worldwide since October over sticky gas pedals, faulty floor mats and glitches in braking software.
But the company has shifted quickly into damage control, bringing its president Akio Toyoda to Beijing to make a formal apology on Monday. He flew straight to China from the U.S. after testifying before Congress about the company's handling of its quality problems.
Though China sales of Toyota-brand vehicles rose 30 percent in February from a year earlier to 45,000 units, that was down sharply from 72,000 vehicles sold in January.
"To meet our sales goal for 2010, we have started to offer a sales promotion. As China is still one of the growing markets, we can not sit still and wait any more," Toyota's spokesman in Beijing, Niu Yu, said Friday.
The company forecasts that its China sales will rise to 800,000 units this year, up from 709,000 in 2009.
Toyota and other automakers are looking to China to offset weak demand in the U.S. and other markets and to power future growth.
In Shanghai, the Xietong Toyota dealership is offering a year's insurance, worth about 1,000 yuan ($150), with the purchase of any Toyota model, said general manager Xu Chunlei.
"Sales have bounced back a bit compared to February, thanks to the promotion we began this month," Xu said.
The incentives apparently vary from dealer to dealer.
Some Toyota dealers were offering gasoline coupons worth 88 yuan (about $1.30) to each customer who test drives a Toyota vehicle, the Kyodo News Agency reported.
Xu said her dealership was offering small potted plants to each customer who brings his or her RAV4 in for gas pedal repairs.
Some potential buyers appear to be waiting to see how widespread the quality problems might be, said Yang Zaishun, deputy secretary for the China Passenger Car Association.
The private research group reported Friday that China's passenger car sales rose 45 percent in February from a year earlier, still robust but slower than the 84 percent growth seen in January.
February tends to be a slow month due to the Lunar New Year holiday, but China has had more than its share of quality scares, and its own automakers still lag their global rivals in terms of manufacturing prowess.
"Many customers also have concerns over the quality of domestic brand cars due to the Toyota incident and are postponing buying cars," said Yang Zaishun, the group's deputy secretary.
"Such worries are not necessary and will likely ease soon, since the quality of cars made in China is the best to be found in developing markets," he said.
