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Although Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) has created specific marketing companies to help it stir up more consumer interest in vehicle purchases in the U.S., the world's largest automobile company now wants to spend as much as $1 billion in the fourth quarter of this year to bump up sales as much as possible.
Not only that, but the auto company is adding two more hybrid Prius models and is enhancing the margins its dealers receive. Will all of this add up to a large rise in Q4 sales for the automaker? As signs continue to sprout up that the economic recession is nearing an end, customers may start flocking to non-U.S. cars in Q4 now that the "Cash for Clunkers" parade has ended gas efficiency continues to top of the lists of customers shopping for a new car this fall and winter.
Toyota's estimated $1 billion marketing spend in Q4 is up to 40% more than usual for Q4 advertising and marketing spending. This signals Toyota wants sales numbers to pick themselves off the floor so they can start growing again. Although Toyota had the most popular car sold with the recent U.S. Government-subsidized Cash for Clunkers program, that was Q3.
Q4 brings a whole new set of challenges, even as customers loosen their wallets and purses a little for large purchases. But not all customers are Prius-crazy: Toyota had better make more dealer-level negotiating room for some of its perennial best-sellers like the Camry as well.
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