The recall of more than 8 million
Toyota vehicles, including nearly 200,000 in the UK, bodes
particularly badly in terms of fleet uptake for a brand intended to
stand for quality, safety and reliability.
Toyota, the world’s largest carmaker since
overtaking General Motors in 2008, invited further criticism –
including comments from transport secretary Lord Adonis – by taking
more than 12 months to respond to widespread reports of
acceleration and braking problems in its vehicles.
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Recalling that RVs on Ford Explorers “dived quite
significantly” for the best part of three years after Ford’s
high-profile recall operation ten years ago, Peter de Rousset-Hall,
chairman of Woburn Consulting, noted that “logical or not, this
will have a noticeable effect on the market for Toyota cars”.
Nevertheless, Greenhouse Remarketing Services (GRS)
felt there would be “no significant impact on residual values for
Toyota product in the medium- to long-term”, but added that there
would be a change in value for cars “where questions hang over
whether a car has been through the recall process”.
GRS also thought that fleet impact would be
mitigated by the contract hire market’s familiarity with recall
information, but that a greater effect would be seen on the daily
rental market, “where the cost and inconvenience of taking a car
off the road will be felt most”.
But the recall will provide opportunities elsewhere
in the motor sector, some optimistic commentators have said.
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By GlobalDataColin Bruder, managing director of consultancy
Network Automotive, commented that dealers could use recalls to
impress customers with their efficiency and customer service. He
pointed out that this applied not just to the Toyota recall, but
also other, less publicised recalls being carried out by Peugeot,
Citroën, Honda and Ford across Europe.
Meanwhile, fleet software specialist Mycompanyfleet
said that the demands of recalls could prove beneficial to
producers of fleet management software.
Mycompanyfleet business manager Andrew Leech said:
“We have designed our fleet management systems to allow fleet
managers to be able to respond quickly and effectively in
situations like this.”
Fred Crawley
