What do you do when a product design change alienates a key ethnic group?
Toyota faced this challenge with the 2012 Toyota Camry redesign. The Asian American audience had always considered the Camry a “smart buy”. A 2009 Polk report states “manufacturer’s reputation and quality is the number one purchase driver among Asian Americans.” With the slick new body style, the Camry was no longer attractive to this audience. It didn’t seem as durable or high quality as the previous model. In short, it was too sexy. Even though Asian Americans are only 5-6% of the population, they represent the highest percentage of Toyota sales. This was a big problem, and Toyota needed to win this market back.
Continue Reading