A Tough Nut To Crack: Toyota's Tundra Fails To Make Sales Estimates In 2007

Close counts when it comes to horseshoes, darts and hand grenades (to a certain extent).  But when it comes to automotive sales and forecasts, it clearly either a hit or miss proposition.

When the New Tundra came on to the scene, Toyota conservatively stated it targeted 200,000 in sales for 2007.  It seemed like an easy target to hit.  After all Toyota is a conservative company, and never really boasts more than it can accomplish. After all if you always hit your targets you look real good.

After a huge marketing push, many pro and con press articles, last ditch discounting, a few minor recalls tossed in, Toyota fell just short of the mark selling a grand total of 196,555 units.  While this is an impressive start for a new model by most counts, it also makes a statement that the US pickup market place is a tough nut to crack, and loyalty is fierce amongst the brands.

If you remember back at the introduction of the Tundra many of us stated that this was the dawning of the death of U.S. dominance in the pickup marketplace.  While it may be a start of the end of some models, even in a declining domestic market such as this, Toyota may still have quite a way to go for dominance.

So what should be Toyota’s next step?  Lower prices, more advertising, or let the market just settle around them?