Toyota’s sales chief for the U.S. has stated that credit is not to blame for tanking sales in the month of September 2008. Jim Lentz told reporters, "In our case, credit is not the biggest challenge. Our biggest challenge is consumer confidence."
Those with good credit ratings can still get credit and loans. Unfortunately, with all the hubbub surrounding the economy with words like “tightening credit,” or “credit crunch” being tossed around, consumers mistakenly believe they are no longer eligible for loans.
This psychological lack of consumer confidence led to a freefall in sales figures last month for the entire industry, with Toyota sales dropping 32.3 percent. Many people are putting off buying cars because they no longer believe they can get loans.
"There's no issue at all with above-average credit," said Alan Helfman, owner of River Oaks Chrysler Jeep in Houston. “Hurricane Ike was a bigger problem for us than the credit crisis.”
This in part spurred Toyota’s recent zero percent financing deal—to encourage consumers to not only come into showrooms, but buy. It is too early to tell if zero percent financing is making a difference for Toyota, but the automaker is optimistic. "We have seen some increase in overall traffic at some of our dealerships, especially in southern California and Arizona that have been hardest hit," Lentz said.
Our take? So basically, it’s all in our heads.
via Detroit News