Demand tanks as Toyota flails

Toyota's image is taking a battering as recall chases recall, and it's impacting demand in Israel, as observed on the classifieds Web site Yad2. IT reports that during the week of January 22 to January 28, there were 29,296 searches for Toyotas. In the following business week, the number of searches plunged to 13,195, a drop of 57%.

The model hit hardest, says Yad2, is the Corolla. There were only 2,928 searches for that car, compared with 6,821 the week before. The Avensis also suffered, garnering only 2,410 searches last week, compared with 5,580 during the previous week.

The importer isn't hurting too badly, because it had been keeping its inventory low. "Probably we'd be selling more if not for this whole story," said a salesman at the company yesterday. "But the big problem now is lack of inventory. People aren't buying from me mainly because I don't have cars to deliver."