Toyota says to compensate buyers in 'forgotten engine' incident
14-JUL-2008 Intellasia | Saigon Times Daily page 1
Jul 14, 2008 - 7:00:00 AM
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Toyota Motor Vietnam (TMV) said yesterday that it would indemnify 13 buyers of the brand-new Innova and Hiace vehicles equipped with the engines forgotten for two-years at a port in northern Vietnam.
The demand for redress of all the customers will be met, the company told more than 50 reporters at its factory in the northern province of Vinh Phuc.
The company sold 90 of these automobiles to 13 customers, with 83 lower-grade Innova J vehicles for taxi firms, one higher-grade Innova G for an individual and six Hiace minivans. The remaining five are still at dealer showrooms.
In a face-saving move, TMV and dealers visited the 13 customers from July 1 to 9 to apologise for the incident in which the engines rusted at Hai Phong port, take responsibility for the problem and find a solution to dealing with this.
"Our stance is not to negotiate but meet all customers' requests. To free the customers from any concern, we will offer replacements as soon as possible," says a statement issued yesterday by TMV.
The customers can continue to use the cars until they take delivery of the new vehicles.
For those customers willing to continue to use the current cars, TMV will take 10% off the price and offer special warranty for the vehicles.
According to the company, three customers who bought the Hiace have asked to change the minivans.
The other customers, who are mostly taxi firms, have agreed on other methods of compensation.
President of TMV Nobuhiko Murakami, said on Thursday, "As President of TMV, I recognise the issue of long-stock engine as the serious defect of the quality of our business operations. I apologise to 13 customers who have been involved in this issue directly, and deeply regret for the fact that our incident created a concern in the Vietnamese community.
"Please also allow me to offer an apology for any worry that was caused to all Toyota customers."
When asked why a container with 96 engines inside had been left at Hai Phong port for more than two-years, he said, "Such poor management on parts logistic is, needless to say, completely out of our operational standard.
"It is my great regret that the necessary and responsible communication system has not been established within TMV and consequently with our customers and dealers. We are now investigating the root cause of these problems and it is my responsibility to take immediate actions to assure that such problems will never happen again and recover the trust of our valued customers."
As a rule, the company must inform dealers of any cases in which new vehicles are kept in warehouses longer than allowed before delivery, so that they can deal with customers, says the statement.
TMV said it would check all of its internal procedures to prevent its reputation from being affected.
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