12 July 2011

Japanese earthquake had little effect on Toyota Ireland

Toyota Ireland were relatively lucky in the effects of the tsunami and earthquake in Japan last March, according to Ian Corbett, Marketing Operations Manager, Toyota Ireland (pictured).

"Because of the condensed nature of sales in Ireland, we were relatively lucky in comparison to our European colleagues," he said.

Q1 selling was nearly over at the time of tsunami and all our Q2 product was produced or being shipped at the time, he added.

Toyota has increased its European sales by 18,671 units (4.6 per cent) in the first half of this year, catching up after the Japanese earthquake last March. Sales of Lexus vehicles were up 42 percent from the first half of 2010.

Toyota is the top selling brand in Ireland this year so far, according to the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) with 13.4 per cent of the market.