Why Toyota Survived the Recall Crisis? An Analysis of Consumer Based Brand Equity for Toyota

Abstract

Toyota, a brand name that stands out in the automobile world, offers interesting insights in brand building. The years 2006 till 2010 will always be remembered as the make-or-break years for Toyota. A little over 15 million vehicles were recalled by Toyota due to quality issues, mainly due to accelerator pedal causing unintended acceleration of its automobiles resulting in abrupt incursion and chances of accidents. What happened to the customers' affiliation with Toyota? The answer to this question lies in the brand equity of Toyota and the impact of the brand building efforts that Toyota had made since its inception in 1937. The following text aims to explore and describe the effectiveness of the brand building elements of Toyota in light of why Toyota survived this crisis.