Toyota Prius Marketing Case Study

Inside, every 2015 Toyota Prius has plenty of state-of-the-art comfort and safety amenities. For instance, the standard Prius comes with cruise control, automatic climate control, keyless entry, tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel, and a six-speaker sound system with CD player, Bluetooth connectivity, 6.1-inch touchscreen display, and iPod/USB interface. In addition, the Prius, one of the safest vehicles on the road, features

Within the Automotive Industry, you have to be able to provide a better product then your competitors. This means selling more units with a new cutting edge product. However, for an automobile manufacturer, this expands more than just the generic car that runs on gas. Ford faces a more competitive market with smaller cars with hybrid engines. On a list of top 10 highest selling hybrid cars in 2012, the Ford Fusion Hybrid ranks at number 10. It sold 3,182 models in that whole car year. Toyota, Ford’s biggest competitor, has both of their top hybrid vehicles at the number 1 and number 2 spots for that same list. The Toyota Camry Hybrid (number 2) sold 21,466 models for that year, and the Toyota Prius (number 1) sold 117,626 models ion that very same year. Ford would need to come up with a plan for a newer model car that can compete with the sales of Toyota.

In 1983 Toyota decided it was time to produce a luxury vehicle to compete with the world 's best. Toyota made automotive history in 1989 when the first Lexus was unveiled. Now 16 years later the rx400h hybrid is here to do it again by being the world 's first luxury hybrid SUV on the market. Performance orientated, the Lexus hybrid delivers advanced hybrid technology along with increased power and outstanding fuel efficiency. Advertising will play the biggest role in the overall promotion following by public relations, personal selling and sales promotion. The Lexus name is very well established in the world. With that being said, the promotional plan will focus more on the hybrid

When it comes to fuel efficiency, no gasoline or diesel model ever built outperforms the all-new 2016 Toyota Prius. Such were the findings of Consumer Reports following the non-profit consumer organization’s internal testing of the hybrid, which achieved 52 mpg overall, besting the previous record-holding 2000 Honda Insight by 1 mpg.

A particularly vigorous debate within the topic of sustainability involves the automobile and its future. Compared to other sources of environmental degradation, the automobile is relatively young. That said, automobiles powered by internal combustion engines (ICEs) are one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gasses. The automobile’s proliferation, while not complete across all levels of income, is extremely thorough in geographic terms.

Toyota has been able to prove that the Hybrid vehicle is not the vehicle equivalent of the pet rock. Creating this opening for the hybrid market has given Toyota a lot of competition. The Prius 's closest competitor came from Toyota 's chief rival Honda, which a year after the introduction of the Prius saw the arrival of the Honda Insight in the Asian markets. The Insight provides consumers with a more fuel economic vehicle at 61 / 70 mpg, which are at about the same price, with a 10-mpg advantage in city miles over the Prius and a 25-mpg advantage in highway travel. What the Insight does not have is the Space, the Honda Insight has an overall space of 155.1 inches while the Prius has an additional twenty inches

Buyers will consider quality and performance as the important characteristics to buy a car. But, nowadays, people are buying increasing number of environmentally friendly cars which is hybrid electric vehicles. Toyota Prius is reported as the market leader which is the best-selling car in Japan. It is better than normal fuel car as it has lower emissions and uses less fuel but its cost is almost twice times compared to conventional car. Why consumers still will choose a car like Prius?

G. According to US News, the 2016 Toyota Prius was ranked #9 in compact cars, #5 in hybrid and electric cars, #8 in hatchbacks, and #10 in small cars (“2016 Toyota Prius | U.S. News & world report,” n.d.). It retails between $24,200 and $30,000 which is considered a compact car. “The Toyota Motor Corporation is a multinational corporation and now the world 's largest automaker in terms of sales, net worth, revenue, and profit according to Fortune Global 500. Toyota is positioned in the moderately low-price, high volume market” (“Strategic analysis of Toyota motor corporation,” 2003). They did move more into the higher-priced market with the Lexus brand and worked to fill the need for electric vehicles with the Toyota Prius. The company is diversified in various markets within the automobile industry and are able to branch out in several directions.

The topics that I have identified that Toyota has used are differentiation and low cost strategy to gain an advantage over their competitors. The market outlook that Toyota has is a expansive one that is aimed at almost every consumer there is in in the market that is looking to buy a vehicle. Toyota has all wheel drives, SUV’s and trucks for consumers whom are more adventurous or for those that live in an environment that requires them to purchase such a vehicle. Toyota also has hybrid models such as the Prius and the Hybrid Camry for the consumers who are more concerned about the environment and for those that are interested in saving a car that requires less consumption, along with a range of standard cars for general everyday use. Also, Toyota has a product for all income groups. Targeting the lower income group, they have the Toyota Yaris, Prius and Corolla, and targeting the higher income group Toyota also has higher priced luxury range of cars and SUVs with Lexus being part of the Toyota Group, Toyota has a product for every

Throughout evaluation surveys by the consumers, Toyota has always configured the customers love their product because they deliver the reliability in their cars. Even after taking a setback like recalls on some of Toyota’s products, there still has been no hindrance in its sales and it has come back to after fixing all the glitches. Another reason behind Toyota success is that is focused on achieving a long-term business of their customer and it is also committed to delivering the best for the environment. Further in this paper will be discussed the specific primary and secondary markets Toyota targets and also what groups are targeted the most.

Publics: The government encouraged the consumers to buy environment-friendly cars with tax incentives. Toyota spends only about €15m for promotion of the Prius from a €400m budget. The media spread the idea of environment-friendly cars and after a while it became a trendy to drive in environment-friendly cars. Toyota tried to build up a linked image between being environmentally friendly while driving the car.

Toyota is facing fierce competition in the automotive industry. Competition is increasing with new entrants are trying to enter the automotive industry. This new entrants can be automotive company from Europe, China and South Korea. Direct competitors of Toyota are Honda, General Motors, and Fords. Besides that, Hyundai has become serious threat for Toyota as well. According to Can anything stop Toyota (2011), Hyundai's vehicles cost less than Toyota while it has more power compared to Toyota's vehicles. In the luxury market segment, Toyota's Lexus lost to BMW in terms of sales (Business Week 2009). Technology innovation has become major force in the industry. This requires those automotive companies including Toyota to catch up with their competitors or otherwise, they will lose their market shares. Recently, the raising price of fuel and pollution has become a major concern. Therefore, the

Toyota seeks to attract a new type of consumer with the Matrix, one whoembodies a trendy, youthful edge, but also insists upon practicality andreliability. Using PRIZM®, Velocity Communications segmented the targetaudience into four components: Motivated Students, Aspiring Singles,ActiveIntellectuals and Domestic Achievers. This enabled us to dig deep into thetarget market’s motivations and habits and allowed us to develop an effectiveplan that truly speaks to our intended target markets.The members of the target audience are going places.They are 20–30 year olds who welcome the qualityand dependability that Toyota promises to bring totheir changing lives. They have expressed an interestin the cross-over utility market because such vehicles will accommodate their active lifestyles at anaffordable price. This youthful market is highlyeducated and thinks both critically and progressively.Like the Matrix, these young men and women are practical, innovative and prepared for the road

As indicated above, these three cars are not only great when it comes to mileage, but another advantage they enjoy is that they are also environmentally friendly. For example, the Prius produces 90 percent less harmful emissions than a traditional car (www.ineed2know.org, 2004), which is important to those individuals that are concerned about the environment. Even President Bush seemed to agree that alternative fuel vehicles needed to be further investigated when he endorsed the concept of alternative fuel vehicles and allocated more than a billion dollars toward the transition to hydrogen fuels (www.evrental.com, 2001). On the other hand, these types of cars are not a practical investment if cost and availability are issues. Not only is the price higher, but due to limited interest in hybrids by consumers at this time, there is only a small geographic area where hybrids are being rented. Most locations are situated in California, Arizona, and Washington; therefore, if ABC Rental Cars is looking for a new rental opportunity that could expand quickly, hybrid vehicles may not be the ideal choice.

Toyota’s business divisions encompass automotive operations along with financial and other customer services operations. Among these activities, automotive operations, which accounting for 89% of the company’s revenue in 2012 (toyota-global.com), are major segment of the business. In 2012, Toyota’s predominant markets for vehicle sales include: Japan-28%, North America-25%, Europe-11% and Asia-18% (toyota-global.com). Overall, the automobile industry is intensely competitive and highly volatile. Customers’ demand for personal vehicles is affected by many factors, including: social, political, technological and economic conditions (toyota-global.com). These factors can fluctuate the supply and demand of