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All anyone has is a name. When that name is ruined, so is that someone.
Toyota had a great name. It was the name of reliability; the name of safety; the name of resale. I never thought they were that great, but I couldn't deny the marketing genius that Toyota instilled in its customers and the world as a whole. Everyone believed the brand was safe to buy and safe to sell. Without any performance products, it was a bland, featureless contribution to the automotive industry. It had nothing really competitive, and yet it competed so aggressively in the showroom.
This catastrophe is built on the lies of its name. The whole Toyota monopoly on being the best brand ended when, ironically, cars began moving forward despite drivers putting on the brakes. Toyota was moving forward off a cliff. As we watch it freefall, we still see branded customers clinging to their Toyotas, believing in their products. Toyota has been cashing in its chips, claiming to have been behind its customers all along, but those of us following the automotive industry news know otherwise.
Toyota lied. It lied about safety. It lied about reliability. Somehow, it still translated into resale, but now those inflated resale numbers will match the reality that the company that built those cars was just a scheming, valueless name.
What's in a name? Some companies put their values behind a name. When those names are tarnished, they can earn the name back. Others hide behind the lies they say their names represent. Toyota is a lie.
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