February 6th, 2023, Lesley Simeon
Akio Toyoda will step down as Toyota’s president and CEO (after being in the posts for more than a decade) and become chairman effective 1 April 2023. The company’s incumbent chief branding officer, will step into the CEO position.
The carmaker has, in recent times, come under criticism for not joining fellow auto brands in their enthusiastic shift towards an all-electric future. Toyota is supposedly readying itself for a pivot, with the new CEO outlining his goals for the company, amongst which is “accelerating the shift to electrification”, in addition to the auto brand reportedly developing an EV-only platform.
So, how did Toyota do in the US and Great Britain under its exiting CEO?
According to YouGov BrandIndex - which tracks consumer sentiment towards thousands of brands daily - Toyota’s brand health in the US improved under Toyoda as its CEO.
The brand’s Index metric - which is an overall measure of brand health, made up of General Impression, Customer Satisfaction, Quality, Value, Corporate Reputation and Recommendation - improved from a net score of 33 on 1 June 2013, to 36 on 28 January 2023. In Great Britain (GB), however, the Index metric remained mostly unchanged.
Similarly, Toyota’s Current Customer scores in the US as well as in GB stayed more or less the same over the time period.
Toyota’s reported electric push seems to match consumers’ attitudes, suggests data from YouGov Profiles - which covers demographic, psychographic, attitudinal and behavioral consumer metrics. While 51% of current US Toyota owners who expect to purchase a new car in the next 12 months would consider a petrol engine, full-hybrid and electric vehicles tie at second position (32% each).
In GB, full hybrid engines are the top choice (52%) for current Toyota owners who expect to purchase a new car in the next 12 months. At 45%, electric places a strong second, followed by petrol (32%).
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Methodology: YouGov BrandIndex collects data on thousands of brands every day. Toyota’s Index score is an overall measure of brand health, made up of General Impression, Customer Satisfaction, Quality, Value, Corporate Reputation and Recommendation and delivered as a net score. Its Current Customer score is based on the question: Do you currently have a car or truck from any of the following car makers? and delivered as a percentage. Scores are based on an average daily sample size of 7407 US adults and 7598 GB adults between 1 June 2013 and 29 January 2023. Figures are based on a 12-week moving average. Learn more about BrandIndex.
YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data and rolling surveys, rather than from a single limited questionnaire. Profiles data for the US/GB is nationally representative and weighted by age, gender, education, region, and race. Learn more about Profiles.
Photo by Christina Telep on Unsplash