BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
MOST representatives from Brunei car dealerships interviewed yesterday said they felt that the recent Toyota vehicle recalls would have little to no effect on their share of domestic car market.
They said the Toyota brand name remains strong and its Brunei dealer NBT (Brunei) Sdn Bhd has done well in reassuring buyers that their vehicles are safe and exempted from the recalls.
Adeline Teng, marketing executive for Premier Automobiles Sdn Bhd (Ford and Jaguar), said that she did not feel that they would be able to make use of the recent recalls to break into Toyota’s hold on the car market in Brunei due to Toyota’s brand name.
“The Toyota brand is so strong. I don’t think there will be much change in terms of their sales (in the domestic market),” she said.
She added that this was especially the case for those dealing with European cars.
“People here always choose Toyota or other Japanese vehicles because they think that servicing, parts and maintenance for European cars are more expensive but this is not the case. The Japanese market is very strong,” she said.
Teng attributed this to the fact that there are more original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts available for Japanese cars while parts for European cars generally have to come directly from their respective factories.
John Tan, marketing executive for TCY Motors Sdn Bhd’s Audi division, said that he personally felt that the global recalls would have no effect on sales in Brunei.
“The dealer of Toyota was very quick to counter and come up with press releases, reassuring the public that their vehicles were not affected,” he said.
“They were very quick with damage control,” he added.
Tan said that they were also quite fortunate that Brunei’s Toyota vehicles were different from the stock that was affected.
“If the stock were of the same batch that was recalled then things (would have been) different… but even then I think the effect will be very minor,” said the marketing executive who explained that this was due to Brunei’s market being completely different from the rest of the world.
He however added that the recalls would have an effect on Toyota’s reliability assurance around the world, a point which Matthew Lo Jun Heng said would result in a chink in Toyota’s armour.
“Toyotas are well renowned for their quality and high standards. This recall has caused quite a bit of damage to this selling point,” said the marketing manager of Worldwide Motor Sdn Bhd who deals with Proton vehicles.
“I think other car manufacturers and dealers will take advantage of this so they will certainly be affected,” he added.
Lo said that even though Brunei’s Toyota vehicles were not affected by the recall, people living in the Sultanate will now think twice when buying such vehicles.
“It is like the recession… Brunei was not affected but many people were concerned and (tried to spend less),” he said.
NBT however predicted that 2010 would be a good year.
In an earlier interview, Hj Ahmad Omar Hj Husin, marketing manager of NBT, said that he expected 2010 to be a good year for the company due to continued “after sales support”.
“I don’t think sales will be affected by the recalls,” he said, adding that sales figures had remained steady throughout 2009 compared to 2008.
“I cannot speak for the global market but I think we will be all right because apart from the Prius, none of our models were (recalled),” he said.
The automotive giant has announced a series of worldwide recalls that have affected almost eight million Toyota vehicles. This was more than its entire 2009 global sales of 7.8 million cars.
Some 2.3 million cars in the US were recalled due to accelerator pedal fears, a problem which also plagued over 75,000 Toyota cars in China. Another 1.8 million vehicles in Europe were also pulled out late last month. Toyota also recalled almost 5.3 million US vehicles to replace floor mats that could trap accelerator pedals.
The Brunei Times
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