Toyota Motor Corp., which is looking to break into the competitive U.S. market for full-size pickup trucks, Wednesday announced a two-year sponsorship deal for country music stars Brooks & Dunn.
The marketing campaign is part of an effort by Toyota to reach America's big truck buyers, the one remaining part of the U.S. market still considered fiercely loyal to the traditional Big Three.
Toyota is also sponsoring a professional fishing tour, NASCAR events and touting its contributions to the U.S. economy — all messages intended to appeal to the heartland truck drivers who might otherwise opt for a domestic brand.
"The fact that we are building this truck in America, by Americans for Americans, I think really speaks to the fact that it's genuinely going to reach the true trucker in the United States," said Steve Jett, Toyota's truck advertising manager.
Toyota plans to double production of its Tundra pickup trucks for 2007 with the addition of a new assembly plant in San Antonio, Texas, in coming months.
Toyota, which overtook DaimlerChrysler last month as the No. 3 auto maker in the U.S. market, has posted a 6-percent sales gain for its pickup trucks so far this year.
But that success has come on the strength of its compact Tacoma pickup. The full-size Tundra, which has been redesigned for 2007, with a 5.7-liter engine and towing capacity of 10,000 pounds, has lagged as buyers wait for the new model.
Toyota is betting that launch later will help it make inroads to the buyers now loyal to Ford Motor Co.'s F-150 series and the Chevrolet Silverado from General Motors Corp.
"We have rational support now with the product, we need to speak to the emotional and social side of the truck buyer, and that where it comes to relationships like the one we have with Brooks and Dunn," Jett said.
Toyota did not disclose how much it will spend to underwrite the two-year tour by Ronnie Dunn and Kix Brooks, one of the biggest selling duos in country music.
Toyota's growing success in the U.S. market, which comes at a time when both Ford and GM are cutting jobs and shutting plants, have prompted some concern among Tokyo-based analysts that it could risk a public backlash.
But so far this year, U.S.-based analysts have said Toyota's reputation for quality and fuel efficiency have outweighed other considerations for consumers, driving market share gains here.