Toyota Motor Corp.'s new top executive for North America lists lower incentives and greater local purchasing and product development among his top objectives. Satoshi Ozawa, who last month took control of a newly reorganized unit made up of the developed markets of North America, Europe and Japan, said reining in incentives is "the first challenge" to building brand value.
"We will not simply go after volume," Ozawa told reporters while spelling out his top four priorities. "We are going to restrain discounts and incentives."
Ozawa's comments come as Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. cranks up incentive spending on its Camry sedan, amid increasingly tougher competition from the Honda Accord, Nissan Altima and others.
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