Toyota Camry Hybrid Business Model

Pioneer Hybrid Automaker

In 1997, the Toyota Motor Corporation introduced an eco-friendly hybrid car – The Toyota Prius (Pride, Hughes, and Kapoor, 2013). Even though the idea was not well-received, the company stuck with it and to date the Prius is the best-selling hybrid car. Besides, other automakers are fast adopting the eco-friendly and hybrid models. However, Toyota has more years of learning through its research and development strategy, and therefore, the 2018 Toyota Camry Hybrid, LE CVT offers one of the best fuel efficient cars.

Weaknesses

Toyota faces a number of hurdles in its quest to maintain the market lead. First, the 2009 and 2010 recalls demonstrated a lapse in the company’s much-touted quality production. Among the recalls

Also, the rivals are developing innovative features, and thus, threatening the market share of this brand. Further, government policies are regulations threaten the operations of the Toyota Motor Corporation, and consequently, its unique Camry Hybrid brand. First, the features in the 2018 Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid and the 2017 Honda Accord seem direct substitutes to the Camry Hybrid. Furthermore, other hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius offer cheaper alternatives to the Camry Hybrid. Furthermore, there are at least 47 others hybrid cars sold around the world (U.S Department of Energy, EERE, n.d.). Similarly, other innovators like Elon Musk’s Tesla, the Mercedes, BMW, and Ford electric cars pose an innovative threat to Toyota. For instance, Tesla markets itself as the car of the future. Even though the current prices of hybrid cars from these competitors might be prohibitive, the future will be more challenging for Toyota, and especially, its current model of the 2018 Toyota Camry Hybrid, LE CVT. Finally, government policies affect the operations of any brand within a country. For instance, the threat by the current U.S President Donald Trump to promote locally-produced goods with his “America First” slogan has a direct impact on the Camry Hybrid brand as the import policies might not be favorable to the Toyota Company. Therefore, the unstable – both economically and politically – target markets of the developing Asia pose a greater risk to the brand’s entry. Thus, it is vital the Toyota Motor Corporation to strategically initiate appropriate mitigation