Toyota Confirms Highlights of Annual National Dealer Meeting

October 7, 2010 -Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. confirmed that its annual national dealer meeting took place this evening in Las Vegas. The private meeting was attended by representatives from Toyota’s 1,200 U.S. dealers. Speakers included Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) President Akio Toyoda, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. (TMS) Chairman and CEO Yoshi Inaba, TMS President and COO Jim Lentz, TMS Senior Vice President, Automotive Operations Don Esmond, Toyota Division Group Vice President and General Manager Bob Carter and Vice President-Scion Jack Hollis.

Mr. Toyoda thanked dealers for their extraordinary efforts in serving Toyota customers and outlined his plan to build a new, more dynamic Toyota based on three cornerstones:

1) Putting the fun back into driving and owning a Toyota;

2) Offering the best quality cars at value prices;

3) Listening to customers and dealers so that we can respond better and faster. “I want Toyota to set a new benchmark in listening to our customers and dealers, sharing critical information and responding better than any car company in history,” he said.

Speaking about Toyota’s environmental commitments, Toyoda said, “We will expand our lineup to include more hybrids, plug-in hybrids, battery electric cars and fuel cell vehicles. We are determined to be the leader in this area.”

Other themes from the executive speeches included:

Toyota is back on track to growth: Driven by high quality and fun-to-drive new products and a recovering economy, the Toyota Division and its dealers will continue to grow in the years ahead and will work hard to remain the number one retail brand in the industry.
A strong lineup of all-new or updated products. These new vehicles will focus on style and fun-to-drive attributes designed to spark renewed interest in Toyota by young drivers.
“Toyota Care” will become standard equipment on all Toyota and Scion models. In response to the overwhelmingly positive customer reaction to the two year/25,000 mile complimentary maintenance program, “Toyota Care” will immediately become standard equipment on all Toyota and Scion models with improvements that make it better for consumers and better for dealers. Toyota is the first volume brand to offer this feature. The highest quality cars on the road will now also have the lowest cost of ownership.
Our quality focus is stronger than ever. Independent, third party tests continue to show that Toyota products lead the industry when it comes to quality, dependability and reliability.
We’re more committed than ever to North America. Toyota will continue to strengthen its North America operations by investing more than one billion dollars on the new plant in Mississippi to increase Corolla production. Truck production also has been increased. In addition TMC is committed to giving North America more autonomy and decision-making authority, including relying more heavily on local designers and engineers to tailor products for the North American market.