Toyota could face 'terminal damage'

Enough dribbling

Haigh was speaking to the Telegraph's Graham Ruddick. "The inept way Akio Toyoda [Toyota's president] and his management team have handled the recent crisis has massively damaged the brand, Haigh told Ruddick.

He added: "Machiavelli once said the 'Good news should come out slowly but bad news should come out at once.' Toyota has dribbled out the bad news over a month."

Brand Finance has subsequently downgraded the brand from its previous AAA rating to an A rating, while also wiping off £3bn off Toyota's stock value.

Safety fears and all that Jazz

But the Japanese reliability contagion is now infecting other Jap brands. Like Honda. Honda is recalling up to 646,000 Jazz models built in China and Japan between 2002 and 2008 for problems with window switches. A common enough non-working electric window switch?

Not quite. Apparently the fault could potentially cause the electrics to short-circuit leading to smoke or fire. All British Jazz owners are being contacted.

Still more trouble ahead?

But back to Toyota: most people could be forgiven for thinking that the Toyota recall story is pretty recent. But troubled Toyota has been recalling cars for more than a year. Back in January last year it recalled 1.3m cars because of seatbelt and exhaust issues.

Then, last August, it asked almost 700,000 Chinese owners to return their cars because of faulty window lift switches.

The next recall

So, which manufacturer is next with a mass recall? As badge engineering spreads with many more cars sharing components we can expect more recalls in the future. Unless car makers sort their quality control.

This costs cash but saves lives. Toyota fans won't like the question, but if the number one global car maker can't get floor mats, accelerator pedals or even brakes right, what else could be wrong?

Links (opens in new window)

Toyota recall crisis is threat to 'whole car industry' - Telegraph
Now Honda faces recall crisis
Brand Finance