SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Toyota’s announcement of zero-percent financing and special lease deals generated nearly a 40 percent spike in purchase intent by visitors to Edmunds.com.
In January, Toyota’s purchase intent averaged just over 13 percent and then fell to a 9.7 percent low as a result of the recall announcements. On March 1, Toyota purchase intent had recovered to 13 percent. On March 2, when the incentives program was announced, Toyota purchase intent soared to 18 percent — a 14-month high.
Slightly later announcements of zero-percent financing by Chrysler and General Motors didn’t have the same effect. In fact, Chrysler purchase intent decreased from 3.3 percent to 2.9 percent and GM purchase intent rose slightly from 12.6 percent to 12.7 percent.
“Because of the Toyota recall, people have been closely watching the company’s moves, and many were ready to take action upon hearing the announcement of this highly-anticipated incentives program,” noted Edmunds.com Senior Analyst David Tompkins, PhD. “Chrysler and GM didn’t get quite as much attention for two main reasons: historically — such as in the Keep America Rolling campaign in 2001 — followers never get the same level of attention that the initiators do, and, second, this type of announcement is far more rare for Toyota.”
“The Toyota recall saga allowed other automakers to snag some market share, and now Toyota wants it back,” said George Kang, senior Analyst at Edmunds.com. “Despite their ongoing challenges, the company still has plenty of brand strength and consumer confidence.”
The following chart sets forth Edmunds.com’s purchase intent metric for the specific brands covered by the new incentives programs:
"Purchase intent" measures actual buyer interest reflected by pricing research, vehicle configuration and other focused steps. Purchase intent has a strong correlation to sales. Automaker purchase intent reflects share of total Edmunds.com traffic engaged in purchase intent activity, while model-level data reflects share of Edmunds.com traffic engaged in purchase intent activity within the indicated model’s segment.
