toyota in europe

7/28/2019 Toyota in Europe

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Toyota in Europe

Toyota started exporting to Europe a few years

after its 1957 entry into the US market

Toyota first established operations in

"marginal markets"

Had neither domestic car manufacturers nor high

levels of competition.

After that, Toyota started to attack Europe's

high volume markets like the UK and France


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Malta (1959) UK (1965) Austria (1970) Italy (1990)

Cyprus (1962) Greece (1965) Germany (1971) Poland (1991)

Denmark (1963) Belgium (1966) Ireland (1973) Hungary (1991)

Norway (1963) Switzerland (1966) Gibraltar (1979) Estonia (1992)

Finland (1964) Sweden (1968) Iceland (1979) Spain (1993)

Netherlands (1964) France (1968)

Toyota in Europe


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Only five countries absorbed more than 3,000

units per year by the late 1960s

Finland, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland and the

Netherlands

In many other countries finding distributors

and dealers had proved difficult

Only allowed by law to carry one brand and afraid

of the risk of starting a new brand

Toyota in Europe


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Where allowed, Toyota tried to encourage"dual brand dealers"

In several markets, Toyota took over dealers

from discontinued brands e.g., Talbot and Simca of France

In Germany, Toyota initially relied on a sales

network that comprised agriculturalmachinery dealers, gasoline stations and carrepair shops

Toyota in Europe


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Started to acquire the first leasing companies for its vehicles

Mid-1970s

Toyota exported more than 200,000 units annually to Europe for thefirst time

In 1976The company hit the 300,000 markIn 1980

Toyota had the highest market shares in Finland, Norway and Ireland,but Germany and the UK still accounted for 40% of total salesIn 1997

Across Europe, consumers recognized Toyota for its

outstanding quality and responsiveness

Toyota in Europe


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The Role of TMME

By 1989

Renamed TMME to "oversee and coordinate Toyota's sales and parts distribution as well as product planning activities"

In 1989

The company established a market research center

In 1987

The company established a technical center

In 1970

The European operation of Toyota was set up in Belgium, Toyota Motor Company Brussels (TMC Brussels)


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The Role of TMME

TMC started to acquire stakes in distributors

and wholesalers

TMC OwnedDistributors:

Significant Stakes inDistributors:

IndependentImporters:

Czech Republic Hungary Austria

Denmark Norway Belgium

Finland Poland Cyprus

France Portugal Greece

Germany Spain Ireland

Italy Netherlands

Sweden Switzerland

UK


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TMME was still dealing with 24

distributors in 1998

The distributors could select their

own advertising agencies or rely on

material from TMME

Distributors were free to choose

whether they wanted to use

material produced by TMME orproduce their own material

By 1998, Toyota had 3,700 dealers

in Europe

The Role of TMME

toyota in europe

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