2009 'TOYOTATHON': Opportunity knocks

2009 is already shaping up as a tough year for the automotive industry. Retailers and wholesalers will have to work harder than ever before to attract customers and those customers face rapidly escalating prices for new-car purchases.

So Toyota's 'TOYOTATHON' is a timely event for the buyers and sellers alike. Toyota dealers are running the sales program throughout March, aiming to clear all 2008-build vehicles in stock. These cars, new in all aspects other than the date on the compliance plate, were shipped prior to the price rise in January and buyers can negotiate the price below the original list with a bit of hard haggling.

David Buttner, as the Senior Executive Director Sales and Marketing at Toyota Australia, is the corporate face of 'TOYOTATHON'. The Carsales Network spoke to him briefly about the particular importance of 'TOYOTATHON' to the car company this year.

"Toyotathon now has become a bit of an historical event for us," he said, "and fundamentally, it's to clear the '08 stock, because the last thing you want to do as a manufacturer, is go into the second quarter of the year with stock from the previous year."

"Frankly, I think 'TOYOTATHON' takes on even more significant dimensions this year, when you consider last year -- 2008 -- was a year of two halves. The first half was very buoyant, the second half we saw things drop off considerably.

"So therefore, every manufacturer, no matter how clever they were, has ended up with a little more stock than they would carry into the [new] year. The March event is significant; it's an opportunity for us to provide value for money offerings to our consumers."

Buyers have been scared away from the new-car market as a consequence of saturation-level media coverage of the global financial crisis. That has had an adverse effect on sales rolling over into the first two months of this year and the situation has been exacerbated by most car companies announcing price rises resulting from the Australian dollar taking a tumble against major currencies since August of last year.

"There have been price increases in the market place [as] of January the 1st and we haven't seen a lot of those '09-plate vehicles sold as yet," Buttner concedes.

"So 'TOYOTATHON' will set us up for the rest of the year and we're looking forward to it being very successful, as it has been in previous years."

Since all car companies are in the same boat, it's actually an ideal time to go car-shopping whatever your make and model preference. Toyota, perhaps more so than many companies, is reliant on consumers who are committed to getting the best possible deal anyway. To an extent then, this is 'business as usual' for the importer/manufacturer.

"It is a very competitive marketplace at the moment, and everyone is striving to reduce their stocks," Buttner observes. "We'll certainly be in there with some strong value-for-money offers for our consumers."

The company and its dealers will be slashing prices in the best traditions of stock clearances, and according to Buttner, the deals will apply "pretty well across the range, on our 2008-plate product".