Toyota Shifts Efforts from Expansion to Quality Control Amidst Recall

As reported by Reuters on Wednesday, Toyota TM announced that it will most likely be unable to achieve its peak market share in the US that it had four years ago as the automaker shifts efforts from expansion to quality control.

The company will most likely achieve a market share between 14 and 17 percent in the near future. Toyota's YTD market share in May was 14.2 percent.

Regarding sales expansion for Toyota, the CEO of Toyota North America, Jim Lentz, stated, "I think we had some tailwinds that were very, very unique, so I'm not sure if 17 percent is a realistic number. But somewhere between today's 14 (percent) and that number, I think we will continue to grow"

Toyota reached its maximum market share in the U.S. at 17 percent in 2009 as the competing auto makers neared bankruptcy. However, the rapid growth of sales for the Japanese automaker has resulted in quality issues that lead to massive recalls of Toyota vehicles in 2009 and 2010.

Last Wednesday, Toyota announced yet another recall for 242,000 units of its Prius and Lexus hybrid vehicles due to faulty brakes.

President Akio Toyoda is making attempts to bring the company back to its roots, with an emphasis on quality and reducing the costs of all other aspects of production.

Toyota closed Wednesday at $119.13.