Toyota Doesn't See Incentives Above March Levels

Toyota Motor Corp. officials haven't decided how long to offer generous incentives to bolster demand but said they did not expect discounts to exceed the high levels in March, The Detroit News reported. "In March, we thought it was important to see customers driving Toyota vehicles and feeling that they were safe," Takahiko Ijichi, senior managing director for accounting at Toyota, said on an investor call. Toyota increased its incentives by $400 to $500 per vehicle in March, and is extending discounts through April "based on the concept that using money this way would be the quickest way to restore confidence," Ijichi said. The automaker hasn't decided how long it will continue to offer high incentives and expects to remain flexible. But, he said, speaking through a translator, "we will never use incentives in excess of March levels." President Akio Toyoda pointed to the establishment of regional quality officers and other measures to respond faster to customers' wants and complaints. Asked if he thought the big recalls and bad publicity could wreck Toyota's credibility in the United States, he said he didn't think that would happen. He said Toyota had 20 million customers in the United States.