After the devastating earthquake and tsunami of March 11, Japan’s auto makers aren’t just facing a struggle to scramble for parts from troubled suppliers to try to get their factories working again. They’re also having to retool their whole marketing strategies.
Honda Motor Co. had been scheduled to hold a press conference on March 17 for what would have been the world’s first hybrid wagon, the Fit Shuttle. Instead, Honda was obliged to cancel the event and delay the domestic launch, originally in the diary for the following day. Meanwhile Toyota Motor Corp. has had to postpone the release of the wagon and minivan versions of the Prius hybrid – now Japan’s biggest-selling car ever: that was on the slate for late April in Japan.
While others like Mazda Motor Corp. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp., both with plans to roll out new vehicles later this year, say they’re not considering delaying launches at the moment, the postponement of new Toyota and Honda hybrid models come as demand for fuel-efficient vehicles is likely growing. The average gasoline price in the disaster-troubled country hit Y151.2 per liter on March 22, the highest level since October 2008, and remains around that level, according to the country’s Oil Information Center. As well as price, availability is a concern for people in quake-hit northern Japan, with fewer public transport options than big cities like Tokyo: many gasoline stations in the area remain shut after the disaster.
Spokeswomen at Honda and Toyota said that they have yet to decide on new launch schedules. Even if customers’ appetite for fuel-efficient vehicles is on the rise, they won’t be able to meet higher demand with vehicle production ability dented by the parts shortage, they said. Crimped by the continued vehicle output stoppage, the country’s auto sales sank 37% in March, the biggest drop in 37 years.
Perhaps no surprise, then, that Toyota, Honda, Nissan Motor Co. and other local auto makers are holding off on the aggressive sales promotions in TV, magazine, newspaper ads, or special sales campaigns at dealerships, that typically surround new launches.
Still, auto makers are responding to demand for gas-sipping cars. Toyota restarted production of three hybrid models from March 28 in Japan, including the Prius, and Honda has said that it will run all its domestic factories from April 11, possibly resuming production of all kinds of its vehicles including the Insight and Fit hybrid cars.
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