International market survey once again places Toyota at the top as most valuable brand
The Toyota brand has been valued at almost US$30 billion by market research firm, Kantar Millward Brown in their annual BrandZ Top 100 most valuable global brands study. Over the past thirteen years, the Toyota brand has been rated highest in terms of market value, for eleven years. Only in 2010 and 2012 was Toyota the second most valuable auto brand.
In southern Africa, Toyota has posted the highest sales of all brands for 38 consecutive years. The Toyota Hilux remains one of the most popular models in Africa, leading its segment for 45 out of 48 years.
According to Peter Walshe, Global BrandZ director at Kantar Millward Brown, Toyota has seen continued strong demand for its SUVs in big markets such as the United States and Europe. Sales in the SUV segment grew 5% compared to the previous year.
Toyota Motor Corporation President and Chief Executive, Akio Toyoda, said Toyota’s future success lies in the organisation’s quest to build “ever-better cars”.
Globally, Toyota’s consolidated vehicle sales, released on 31 March, totalled 8,964,394 units, a decrease of 6,466 units compared to the previous fiscal year. On a consolidated basis, net revenues for the period totalled US$264.68 billion, increasing by US$16.05 billion.
Operating income increased by US$3.65 billion from $17.96 billion to $21.61 billion. Net income increased from US$16.49 billion to US$22.46 billion. Major factors in the increase included currency fluctuations of US$2.38 billion and cost reductions of US$1.48 billion.
Toyoda said: “One of the basic principles of the Toyota production system is to reduce costs rather than operate on a cost basis. This means that, rather than setting prices by adding reasonable profit to cost, the only thing that we can do is lower costs, based on the key premise that sales prices are determined by the market, in other words, by our customers.”
