The first car I ever bought was a forest green '96 Toyota Corolla with about 32,000 miles on it. I drove it for another 130,000 miles during which time I had to:
- Replace a seat belt for $80
- Replace the alternator for $200
It's pretty fair to describe that vehicle as reliable.
Somewhere in the middle of that 130,000 miles of driving, it came time to replace my wife's non-Toyota vehicle. A vehicle that required a ridiculous amount of maintenance. If my Corolla was the no-frills, Meg Ryan, girl-next-door type, then my wife's car was Paris Hilton.
Not surprisingly, we purchased a
Matrix, which is a Corolla with a hatchback. If you're wondering if we like it, when we decided to replace my beloved security blanket on wheels, we bought ... another Matrix.
That's not a typo. We own two Matrii.
All this to say, I've been watching the Recallpalypse (not as catchy as
Snowmageddon, but if it catches on you heard it here first) with a lot of interest. Obviously, I am in no way an objective observer and have rushed to the brand's defense with a little too much zeal than is comfortable for casual conversation; but if I had to bet on whether or not Toyota will rebound from this debacle, my
money down payment is on another Matrix.
This is one of the explanations the author offers on why the recall might actually strengthen Toyota's brand:
More people are talking about Toyota than any other brand these days. And they're talking about the recalls, but also the fixes being provided by the dealerships too. And some of the consumers are probably coming to the defense of the brand too. Maybe there is some truth to the adage that there's no such thing as bad publicity after all.
There's truth to the adage especially if you have a brand that your consumers are willing to defend. Companies have been able to deflect a certain threshold of negative press through sophisticated public relations campaigns for a while now. But, in an age where a brand's identity isn't defined by the company, but by increasingly-connected consumers, having an army of satisfied customers is simply a must. Toyota's promise and reputation has always been reliability, and I'm betting there are enough "I drove it for 100,000 miles with no issues" stories to see this through.