Toyota tells dealers it will use Prius name on more hybrids

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story inaccurately described the meeting attendees. The event was open to all Toyota and Lexus dealers.
Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. will use the Prius name on more hybrid models in its U.S. lineup, the automakers’ top executives told dealers.

At a dealer meeting in Las Vegas on Tuesday and Wednesday, Toyota executives said the name Prius would be attached to “a family of models” using similar hybrid powertrains, says veteran Toyota dealer Earl Stewart.

“The Highlander hybrid and Camry hybrid do OK, but calling it ‘Synergy Drive’ never resonated with consumers,” Stewart says. “But they can make hay on the Prius name. It’s a magic name. If somebody says ‘I drive a Prius,’ everybody knows what he means.”

Toyota Motor Sales COO Jim Lentz has been pushing for a multi-platform Prius lineup for a year. But this was the first time it has been openly discussed in front of TMS President Yoshi Inaba and Toyota CEO Akio Toyota.

Toyota will have a range of Prius hybrid models “but Prius won’t be a separate sub-brand like Scion,” Stewart says.

Record marketing efforts

Separately, Toyota is launching a $1 billion fourth-quarter marketing campaign, its biggest ever for that period, to boost U.S. sales.

The Wall Street Journal reported the marketing blitz in today’s editions.

The newspaper said the spending is 30 to 40 percent higher than typical fourth-quarter budgets, citing a person familiar with Toyota‘s operations. Part of the marketing plan involves offering better lease rates by raising the projected resale value of Toyota‘s vehicles, the Journal said, citing dealers briefed on the plan.

Companies use probable resale value to calculate monthly lease payments.

The marketing fund includes spending on U.S. advertising and incentives for the Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands, along with dealer advertising support. Toyota’s U.S. sales division has never spent that much on fourth-quarter marketing, spokesman Curt McAllister said.

Dealing with the downturn

The plan comes as Toyota is struggling with its worst downturn since it was founded in 1937 and is expecting to report a loss for the second straight fiscal year.

Still, Toyota landed three models among the top 10 sold in this summer’s cash-for-clunkers incentive program, according to government statistics. The government numbers have been disputed, as they list a vehicle’s all-wheel-drive and front-wheel-drive separately.

The blitz comes less than a week after General Motors Co. announced its own media campaign, in large part aimed at recapturing consumers who believe Toyota and other foreign automakers make better products. The ads, featuring Chairman Ed Whitacre, offer consumers 60 days to return a new GM vehicle and get their money back.

Toyota executives in Frankfurt this week said the company planned to sell 500,000 to 600,000 hybrid vehicles globally by the end of 2009.

Toyota whistleblower case could prompt added litigation

A former Toyota attorney’s lawsuit claiming the company withheld and destroyed evidence regarding rollover accidents has prompted a Texas vehicle safety attorney to prepare to refile 15 lawsuits against the automaker on Tuesday.
Dimitrios Biller worked as an attorney for Toyota Motor Corp. for four years until 2007, including representing the automaker in accident litigation. In a suit he filed this summer in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Biller said Toyota did not heed his urgings to disclose all evidence useful for rollover suits or for National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regulations.

Toyota eventually forced him to resign, Biller said, adding that he suffered a mental breakdown. Toyota has requested Judge George King to seal Biller’s case so the public cannot view its documents, and the judge has said he will rule on the request later this month.

But for now, the court documents are public. And the possible existence of evidence that could harm Toyota in accident litigation has caused Dallas attorney Todd Tracy to plan to refile 15 rollover, frontal-impact and rear-impact suits against Toyota.

In an interview, Tracy said he planned to refile the suits — some six years old — on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Marshall, Texas.

If other attorneys reopen suits, each court will have to decide whether Biller’s allegations about Toyota are true, Tracy said.

“This opens any cases that Toyota‘s had from years ago if Dimitrios Biller’s allegations are true,” Tracy said. “If this is true, let’s turn the lights on and … unplug the shredder and stop hitting delete on the e-mails.”

Tracy’s intentions were earlier reported by USA Today.

Tracy has opposed Biller in four or five trials, he said, adding he thinks Biller will have good evidence of his claims when the suit goes to trial.

“I can’t imagine that he [Biller] would make the allegations that he did with the very specific facts that he did without having some ammo backing him up,” Tracy said.

Toyota spokesman Mike Michels said the company couldn’t comment on litigation that hasn’t been filed. But he said Toyota was primarily concerned with Biller’s breach of attorney-client privilege and contracts in disclosing information from when he worked at Toyota.

Regarding the rollover accident evidence, Michels said: “Toyota is confident that it has complied with our obligations with respect to our product liability litigation.”

In court documents, the company detailed ongoing conflicts with Biller. Toyota said Biller has tried multiple times to reveal the company’s private information.

“Apparently,” Toyota said in court documents, “Biller now intends to use this action as an excuse and new avenue for gaining some perceived leverage against [Toyota].”

Biller also has filed a suit in that U.S. District Court against his most recent employer, Los Angeles County, where he worked in the district attorney’s office for a few months in 2008.

He claims the county wrongfully terminated him and discriminated against his disabilities — depression and dyslexia. The county acknowledges it fired Biller after a negative evaluation, but denies his allegations are true.