Toyota made us believe that they want to create a world where we can live in harmony with nature. Some ardent Prius owners’ faith in their brand and the company behind the brand may have been shaken over the past weeks. Across the blogosphere posts have been popping up which bring into question Toyota’s environmental stance:

• Thomas Friedman took a jab at Toyota in a NYT op-ed piece, Et tu, Toyota?, causing Toyota to defend itself on their own blog saying: “…there’s a point at which the bar [CAFE standards] is set too high for all competitors… But you can’t bankrupt the industry if you want it to invest in our environmental future.”
• Reports have come out of out-of-date MPG measures used to market the Prius
• The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has come out against Toyota wanting consumers to pressure Toyota into lowering their defense against higher CAFE standards. And a conglomeration of environmental groups has launched a site called challenge is to grab as big of a slice of the truck market as they can get their hands on.Toyota has no doubt gained a green reputation (”halo” is the term floating around the blogosphere) from the success of the Prius; however, when looking at the heavier classes of vehicles an irony emerges with GM’s better mpg performance than Toyota. So why the surprise when Toyota steps up against CAFE standards? Trucks are not marketed on fuel-efficiency; they are marketed on power, the antithesis of fuel efficiency.

  If the truck market is in Toyota’s cross-hairs, then fighting the Hill-Terry bill on CAFE standards is natural move. However, does Toyota have a real risk of alienating their eco-friendly base?

  

  In an effort to make heads or tails of all of this, let’s break down the prevalence of Prius and Tundra discussion in the blogosphere as part of the whole Toyota discussion since the beginning of September. The graph above shows that Prius commands much more attention than Tundra; perhaps that’s because eco-friendly Prius gurus spend more time gathering online than the rough-though pick-up truck gurus? Regardless, Toyota ran the risk of alienating their eco-friendly following, but did they?

  Below we can see that sentiment for Prius and Tundra took a hit during the fire storm of the CAFE squabbling. However, positive Toyota sentiment overall has remained surprisingly strong. Arguably more importantly, the Prius followers seem to have a short and forgiving memory as the sentiment for the Hybrid has rebounded quickly and strongly.

  

  So if the Prius owners are happy again, how’s Toyota doing pushing the Tundra with their 13 new Tundra models? The next graph shows that Toyota has been relatively successful in raising Tundra mentions, at least temporarily, since a September 1st baseline.

  

  The Big 3 no doubt love that Toyota is catching more flack as it grows. However, consumers seem to have a short, forgiving memory. Thus, in the end, as Toyota and Toyota brand mentions increase, perhaps there’s no such thing as bad press.

  Brandon Line

  Disclosure: The author currently does not hold any positions in Toyota. He does however drive a Scion.

Tags: Analyzing Consumer Generated Media, Brand Management, Mass Media/Culture //