Toyota Aims to Lift Annual U.S. Sales to Two Million Vehicles by 2013
LAS VEGAS — Toyota Motor Corp. has challenged U.S. dealers to boost annual sales in the United States to two million vehicles by 2013, an increase of 30 percent over its current level, a person briefed by the company told The Wall Street Journal.
Yoshi Inaba, president of the U.S. operations, made the challenge to more than a thousand dealers who attended a national dealer meeting, this person said.
Toyota also told dealers it would make a two-year, 25,000-mile free maintenance incentive standard on all of its models, this person said.
Toyota Chief Executive Akio Toyoda also told the dealers that his No. 1 priority was to give customers peace of mind about the products and to enliven the brand, making the cars more fun and enjoyable to drive.
He also thanked the Toyota dealers for sticking by the company as they dealt with millions of repairs for recalled vehicles since last fall due primarily to complaints about unintended acceleration, according to the person briefed by Toyota.
Toyota executives also told dealers they were committed to reviving the struggling, youth-oriented Scion brand and were bringing a slate of new products, this person said.
The new Scion models include a production version of the FT-86 concept car as well as the already announced Scion iQ subcompact, this person said.
Toyota is one of the few auto makers to offer free maintenance on its vehicles. The incentive was launched in March as Toyota was seeking to regain the trust of American buyers.
Toyota briefly stopped selling eight of its most popular models in February to fix a sticky accelerator pedal. Toyota also was in the midst of recalling millions of vehicles for slipping floor mats that could entrap accelerator pedals.
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