If ever there’s a time for crisis communications for Toyota, it’s now. The company’s hard-fought reputation for quality has taken a battering in the last two weeks, their share price has dropped 25% and yesterday the government official responsible for car safety in the US suggested Toyota owners leave their cars on the driveway if they wanted to stay safe.
To add to it all Toyota announced a set of impressive financial results yesterday, which only goes to underline how difficult the road ahead will be.
If you’re a Toyota customer like me (I drive an Arius!), no doubt you’ve been worried about whether you’re safe to drive. If you can’t find a quick answer from an official source, your concerns will only deepen. Car companies like Toyota often operate manufacturing and distribution as separate entities and this may explain some of the initial confusion over which models were affected. It’s difficult to send out one global announcement at a time like this, because the situation can vary so much across markets. The mechanic of getting information to customers is less important than speed, getting the facts straight and having consistent messaging.
In the UK, Toyota was quick to field a good spokesman. The YouTube video in the US was a good move in principle, but it’s not been well executed. The US corporate (at times grovelling) apology is over the top and you can see from the comments it’s probably not had the desired impact. I’d like to see a UK version with a more considered tone to support the strong news blog stream they have on the Toyota GB web site, which is a good way of keeping customers up to date on developments.
There’s plenty of research that shows if companies respond well in times of crisis they can actually enhance their reputation amongst customers. Toyota is at a pivotal moment – their action has to be quick and certain to maintain control. They will need to keep people informed of their progress and stay on top of the media debate to prevent commentators’ speculation from shaping public perceptions.
I suspect this will be painful, but customer loyalty will probably see Toyota through. With global supply chains, this kind of issue is becoming more common. Preparation and speed of response are critical, as is learning the lessons for next time.
Toyota recall