Toyota banking on U.S. recovery

September 17th, 2009 at 11:35am Alex Gary

This from the wires:

NEW YORK (AP) Toyota Motor Corp. will pour $1 billion into a major U.S. marketing campaign in the fourth quarter, as the Japanese automaker bets on a recovery in the ailing auto market here.

The sum is “more than we’ve spent before” in the period, spokesman Irv Miller said. The fourth quarter is typically a strong sales season for automakers, who often launch big end-of-the-year promotions to drum up sales of new model-year vehicles. Toyota rolls out its “Toyotathon” marketing and sales blitz in November.

“We see the economy is starting to strengthen a bit,” Miller said. “We’ve stopped playing defense. It’s time to go on the offense.”

The marketing push, which Toyota unveiled to dealers at a Las Vegas convention on Tuesday, comes a week after General Motors Co. announced its own new campaign. GM’s effort features TV ads starring Chairman Ed Whitacre and a 60-day money-back guarantee program designed to draw skittish consumers back to its vehicles.

Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, has been pummeled by the worldwide downturn and posted its first-ever loss for the fiscal year ended in March. It expects a second consecutive loss in the current fiscal year.

The automaker has responded with aggressive cost cutting efforts and a renewed push to sell more green cars like the Prius hybrid. Toyota rolled out a redesigned Prius earlier this year and the car remains the top-selling hybrid in the U.S.

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