Fix Or Repair... A Toyota?

Brand association is anything which is deep seeded in the customer's mind about a brand; whether it be positive or negative. Brand association can really help improve the image of a business, or drastically hinder it. For example, Donald Trump licenses his name to numerous different business projects. In one case, he had licensed his name to a real estate development in the states. The real estate development ultimately failed, and investors in this development were outraged- 'I thought Trump was behind this, how could it fail?' When in reality he had nothing to do with the development, rather than the name "Trump" falsely backing up a poor business venture. Poor judgement calls (like this one on Trump's part) can seriously devalue a brand. 


Enter Toyota and Ford. They recently signed a deal to jointly develop gas-electric hybrid trucks and sports utility vehicles (SUVs).  To me, this sounds like a great partnership!... For Ford, and not Toyota. Is this a poor judgement call on Toyota's part?

Here are the details of the deal:

• Ford and Toyota will share development costs in order to make the technology more affordable for customers and bring it to market faster [than if they had both pursued this development independently].
• Will help both companies meet more stringent fuel economy and pollution standards in the U.S.
• Toyota gas-electric trucks/SUVs will have same engine as Ford gas-electric hybrid trucks/SUVs

Areas for concern:

• Ford has many negative brand associations. There are numerous acronyms for Ford, such as: Fix Or Repair Daily, Found On Road Dead, Fast Only Rolling Downhill, and Fork Over Repair Dough, just to name a few. (Visit http://www.abbreviations.com/FORD for more acronyms).
• Toyota has a strong brand image; an image of reliable and well built automobiles. Toyota has engineered it's operations to produce quality products, and as a result, they have seen huge financial success. Ford on the other hand, has not seen the financial success of its Japanese competitor. 

I believe that Toyota doesn't need Ford, but Ford needs Toyota. The only benefits that Toyota is receiving from this business partnership (in my opinion) is the increased speed to market and reduced costs. But in the end, if you have number one market share and are producing the best product, who cares about reduced costs in the longterm?