The Toyota marketing mix pertains to the various marketing and business strategies adopted by the Toyota brand in the global automotive industry to understand local market conditions, identify Toyota’s target market, focus on consumer preferences, increase corporate clients and ensure brand recall.
The Toyota marketing strategy has created a comprehensive framework for the marketing mix of Toyota that focuses on product strategy for Toyota automobiles and future vehicles, the brand’s hybrid product line, place and distribution strategy, value-based pricing, not only sales volume but also the selling price of Toyota’s product mix, personal selling, direct selling, advertising strategy and promotional mix to gain a competitive advantage in the target market.
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Introduction: Toyota Motor Corporation
# Toyota Motor Corporation
- Origin Country: Japan
- Founder: Kiichiro Toyoda
- Founded: 1937
- Headquarters: Toyota City, Japan
- Employees in 2023: 372,817
- Annual Revenue in 2023: 279.278 billion USD
- Net Income in 2023: 25.366 billion USD
- Market Value in 2023: 237.73 billion USD
- Total Asset Size in 2023: 552.46 billion USD
- Market Cap in 2023: 233.30 billion USD
Toyota Motor Corporation is the largest automobile manufacturer in Japan and one of the largest in the global automotive industry which is publicly traded in 4 stock exchanges Tokyo Stock Exchange, The New York Stock Exchange, Nagoya Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange.
Toyota is a manufacturing company that produces commercial vehicles, passenger cars and luxury vehicles. Services offered by the brand include leasing, car services, extended warranties (various mileage coverage options ranging very high) and finance insurance. It is known for its hybrid product line and especially the first hybrid car Toyota Prius
The Toyota company makes Toyota vehicles under the brand names of Toyota, Lexus, Hino Motors and Daihatsu and has stakes in several technology and auto brands like Panasonic, Yamaha, Mazda, Subaru Corporation and Suzuki etc.
Toyota’s Target Customers in Automotive Industry: Toyota Marketing Strategy
Toyota’s target customers in the automobile industry are drivers in their early 20s to retired people who still love driving. The Toyota brand is highly popular in the worldwide target market although the major market is in North America and Japan.
In the year 2022, the company sold 2 million motor vehicles in Japan and 2.4 million in North America making it the largest target market of the brand based on the number of units sold.
Based on revenues Toyota’s target market in Japan supersedes North America as the Japanese market generated nearly 16 trillion yen compared to 11 trillion Yen from North America.
Geographically there is a shift for smaller vehicles like minivans and mid-size vehicles compared to larger ones. If you are looking from the gender perspective then Toyota vehicles are equally popular amongst males and females.
The business model focuses on the efficient production of a wide range of Toyota products and car models like the innovative hybrid car. Its main customers belong to the middle-income group who are looking for an efficient model within their means.
Toyota’s marketing mix shows that the Toyota Prius model is more popular amongst the upper-class and urban market whereas Toyota Camry a passenger car, is highly popular amongst families and Toyota Yaris is the vehicle of choice for the younger well-to-do generation.
Toyota Marketing Strategy and Toyota Marketing Mix (4Ps)
Toyota’s marketing mix shows that the company focuses on product quality, innovation and reliability for a positive brand image in the market. In the electric vehicle segment, Toyota focuses on high resale value and fuel economy.
The Toyota brand wants to capitalize on the local market conditions so that it can increase its corporate clients as well as customer base.
The Toyota marketing strategy focuses on Toyota’s product mix, product strategy, future vehicles, distribution channels, selling price points, pricing strategies, direct selling, personal selling and promotional strategies so that it can understand consumer preferences and gain a competitive advantage over other rival brands.
Product in the Toyota Marketing Strategy
Toyota Motor Corporation is a market leader in not only sales volume but the development of environmental technology and the Green Program. It was one of the first companies to develop fuel cell technology and a fuel-efficient hybrid product line.
The first hybrid car from the Toyota product mix was the Toyota Prius in the year 1997 and since then the brand sells nearly 40+ innovative hybrid car models with environmental technology in the global market.
The largest automobile manufacturer Toyota focuses on developing the hydrogen fuel-cell Toyota automobiles. The company signed a deal with the United Kingdom government to develop fuel-cell technology hydrogen-powered pick-up trucks.
By the year 2021, Toyota was once again the largest player in the automotive industry and announced a $70 billion investment in electric vehicles and the launch of 30 electric vehicle models by the year 2030 and set a sales target of 3.5 million electric vehicles in 2030.
Toyota Corolla cars have the distinction of being the all-time best-seller automobile in the world. Since 2021 the company has sold nearly 1.1 million Toyota Corolla cars in the global market.
Toyota’s Products Strategy (Product Mix): Marketing Mix of Toyota
Toyota’s marketing strategy in the marketing mix of Toyota puts the focus on Toyota products and its unique product strategy. The focus of the brand on utility, safety and comfort makes Toyota vehicles some of the most sought-after commercial vehicles and luxury vehicles in the world.
Besides passenger cars and motor vehicles like Toyota Corona and Lexus automobiles, the company also offers spare parts, engines, warranties, road assistance, accessories, finance insurance, car services and leasing options. The extended warranties from Toyota have various mileage coverage options ranging from 36,000 – 1,00,00 miles.
Since the year 2009, the Toyota brand lists 70 models among which nineteen car models are the most revered among customers. Toyota Corona, Prius and Lexus Cars especially the Lexus Automobiles are high-demand vehicles for the brand.
The product strategy in the Toyota marketing mix pertains to
Passenger Vehicles (commercial vehicles)
Sedan, Etios Liva, Toyota Yaris, Camry, Avalon, Prius and Lexus cars
SUVs and Crossovers (commercial vehicles)
Yaris Cross, Corolla Cross, Venza, Rush, Raize and Urban Cruiser
Pick-up Trucks
Toyota Hilux, Tacoma and Tundra
Luxury Cars
Crown, Century, Lexus Automobiles
Bus
Toyota Coaster
Hybrid Product Line
Camry and Lexus Automobiles)
Current Products from the brand include
- RAV4 ADVENTURE
- RAV4 HYBRID
- URBAN CRUISER HYRYDER
- INNOVA CRYSTA
- LEGENDER
- TOYOTA FORTUNER
Place in the Marketing mix of Toyota
Toyota Motor Corporation is the largest company in Japan with headquarters in Toyota City and the 9th largest company in the world based on revenues. The largest automobile manufacturer produces nearly 10 million Toyota vehicles annually.
Toyota is an influential brand whose manufacturing ethos, referred to as the “Toyota Production System,” and business approach are renowned all over the world. Toyota supports huge investments in the R&D research center facilities. It has created 15 research centers spread across 8 countries.
Toyota research center gathers data on consumer expectations. The brand has decided to invest nearly 22.2 million in the research center project by the year 2025.
The Toyota marketing mix ensures that the marketing strategy of Toyota for place and distribution is up to the mark because it realizes the importance of a widespread and efficient distribution network. The company makes sure that the supply chain costs are minimum so that the revenues generated are higher. A large global network of dealerships, retailers and distributors help the company to send its products from the manufacturing plants to the end customers.
Toyota is known for fast vehicle delivery as it takes just 10 days on average which is quite fast compared to the delivery averages of competitor brands.
Toyota’s Place and Distribution Strategy: Marketing Mix of Toyota
Toyota’s marketing strategy ensures an efficient distribution network in the marketing mix of Toyota. It includes dealerships, retailers and sales staff or employees that handle the customers in the retail outlets.
The sales staff are entrusted with product information, order taking and data collection so that they can deal efficiently with the end customers.
Toyota has a typical dealership network that tries to keep the supply chain costs down. There are different suppliers in different tiers of the supply chain that work in tandem to create a strong network.
The distribution channels in the Toyota marketing mix include the distribution of the products by dealerships to customers through showrooms, special events and exhibition centres. Few retailers offer accessories and spare parts.
In Japan, the vehicles are sold via Toyopet for low-cost vehicles and Corolla for all compact vehicles.
Pricing: Toyota Marketing Strategy
The Toyota marketing mix ensures that the pricing strategies of the company are relevant to the products as well as the willingness of a consumer to spend the amount on a vehicle. The company considers all its costs and market conditions and then sets the selling price based on the actual and perceived value of the product.
The pricing strategy in the Toyota marketing mix is different for its different product lines. The luxury line of products is of high range whereas the low-cost vehicles are of affordable range with value-based pricing to attract common masses.
Toyota’s Pricing Strategy: Toyota Marketing Mix
The Toyota marketing strategy ensures high product quality and an affordable selling price for its vehicles. The company offers credits to their customers at a low rate of interest so that the customers can afford the vehicles easily.
Value-based Pricing Strategy
The marketing mix of Toyota has adopted an affordable and value-based pricing strategy. The value-based pricing depends upon the actual and perceived value of the products. The company has adopted value-based pricing for high-end products like Toyota Lexus and Prius.
Market-Oriented Pricing Strategy
The marketing mix of Toyota has also adopted a market-oriented pricing strategy for some of the product lines where the brand observes the market conditions and then sets the selling price of the product.
Toyota’s Promotion Strategy (Promotional Mix): Toyota Marketing Strategy
The marketing mix of Toyota company has adopted an aggressive promotional strategy to maintain its hold in the market. The company believes in selling its products across most parts of the globe and has ensured that it uses all the promotional strategy tools at its disposal to enhance brand recall.
The brand image of Toyota is that of a value-based pricing company that sells affordable vehicles for the masses. The Toyota marketing mix has kept the promotional mix and advertising strategy customer-friendly so that the consumers are encouraged to buy the products.
As part of its promotional strategies under the Toyota marketing strategy, the brand has launched a specialized marketing company with activities like micro-influencer marketing, owned media and social media promotions to connect and relay their messages directly to customers.
The various promotional strategy tools adopted by the Toyota marketing mix are as follows-
Traditional Media
The marketing mix of Toyota has created an advertising strategy where its commercials are shown through most of the traditional digital and print media channels like television, newspapers, magazines, billboards and hoardings.
Personal Selling
The marketing mix of Toyota uses a personal selling strategy where sales personnel in the showrooms helps in the direct personal selling of the products.
Sales Promotion
The Toyota marketing strategy uses infrequent sales promotion activities like cash back and rebates that can be used during a down payment. These are part of their advertising strategy to promote the brand and its products.
Brand Ambassadors
Brand ambassadors creating brand awareness and visibility is quite common nowadays. The marketing mix of Toyota has appointed several brand ambassadors over the years like Virat Kohli and Ayushmann Khurrana.
Environmental initiatives and Green Program
Toyota’s marketing strategy and promotional mix have taken strong steps to boost its image as an eco-conscious company. Environmental initiatives include the Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050, a sustainability program launched in 2015. The company is committed to reducing CO2 emissions in its vehicles by at least 90% and offers support to net-zero emissions for a positive brand image as a green company.
Philanthropy
The Toyota marketing mix ensures that the brand is an active participant in philanthropic activities like disaster relief, safety, conservation and education. Toyota has worked with National Center for Family Literacy and American Red Cross. The Toyota USA Foundation supports education in mathematics, engineering, technology and science.
Social Media Marketing
The Kaizen Strategy used in manufacturing and social media marketing optimization has been a great success in making small continuous changes for steady improvement. The Toyota marketing strategy realizes the importance of social media marketing and hence has incorporated several steps in the marketing mix of Toyota to remain in limelight. Toyota’s Facebook global and USA pages have 21 million and 4.3 million followers respectively with Toyota’s Instagram account having 4.6 million followers.
Sponsorships, Collaborations and Celebrity Endorsements
The promotional strategy in the marketing mix of Toyota puts a lot of focus on motorsports sponsorships, collaborations, marketing communications and celebrity advertisements. The brand is known for its annual Super Bowl Commercial that features celebrity collaborations. It sponsors motor sports contests like Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe and FIA World Endurance Championship.
Digital Marketing Strategy – Notable Digital Marketing Campaigns
Keeping Up with the Joneses
The Super Bowl ad of 2022 “Keeping Up with the Joneses” had Leslie Jones, Rashida Jones and Tommy Lee Jones promoting Toyota Tundra.
An Unbreakable Bond
“An Unbreakable Bond’ is a New Zealand-based ad that promoted Toyota Hilux
Never Settle
The latest ad campaign “Never Settle” focuses on how driving can be an integral part of our daily lives and why customers should never settle for less.
key Takeaways from the Marketing Mix of Toyota
The key takeaways from the Toyota marketing mix and marketing strategy are
- The brand should focus on the vast dealership network as it helps the products reach the end customers
- Put customer interest at the forefront to remain a customer-centric brand
- Maintain a culture of innovation and safety
- Keep up with the promotional and advertising strategies to boost brand visibility
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Really helpful regarding my school work . I would say it’s great help to me
Thank you very much for this information ,it was quite helpful …one day i’ll own a company with high standars as Toyota .Thank you once again .