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GM Dealers Take On Toyota

Brandweek, Tuesday, March 27, 2007 11:30 AM

A number of General Motors dealers are angry that GM's corporate ads aren't aggressive enough and are banding together to attack Toyota directly. Local dealer radio ads--being distributed nationwide--take issue with Toyota positioning itself as an American car company. Further, a lengthy e-mail chain prompts dealers to challenge claims Toyota makes in its Tundra "See-saw" ads, showing the truck hauling a 10,000-pound load of cinderblocks up a steep ramp.

In one 60-second radio spot, written and directed by the general manager of Jim Ellis Chevrolet in Atlanta, a voiceover says, "Toyota recalled more vehicles last year than it sold ...."

One email missive debunks the notion that the Tundra can haul 10,000-lbs. as advertised. Providing dealers with this kind of material to share with customers in the showroom is a way of "leveling the playing field," says one dealer. Toyota and its agency, however, stand by the ad.

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