For Jerry Raskind, wholesale development manager, the positive news allows him to focus on one of the few areas where Toyota has not been a runaway success -- wholesale mechanical parts sales.  "We've always done very well in the collision parts business," he said.  "We do struggle some on the mechanical side, but it's starting to come around."

While individual dealers have done very well in representing the parts, and there are shops all over the country that prefer to use genuine Toyota parts, Raskind said Toyota is seeking to improve its wholesale offerings to make it the choice of far more independent repair facilities. 

 
"We're in the wholesale business now," he said.  "We want to partner with the independent repair facility to make sure that our mutual customers--Toyota owners--get a quality repair experience no matter where they choose to have their car repaired."

Raskind said that in recent years, Toyota has recognized that it was not terribly competitive in some product categories and has rolled out new programs, pricing, and promotions to bring back the mechanical wholesale business. 

 
"When we really started selling a lot of cars," he said, "The aftermarket really got strong on mechanical parts availability.  Over the years, the quality of the aftermarket has come up, but at the same time so have their prices."  This means that a lot of times, there is not that much difference in price anymore, he said.

As one example of the company's new efforts, Raskind pointed out a recently launched radiator program that dropped prices as much as 50 percent for Camry and Solara units.  He said a number of other wholesale initiatives are under review and should be introduced in 2008.

Price is only part of the value equation, though, Raskind said, noting that the parts sold in Toyota parts departments are the same parts that came on the car.  "You know that they are going to work properly and that they are going to last just as the original parts did," he said.  "With the Toyota part, the shop will have fewer comebacks because they are getting the part that was made for the vehicle."

Raskind said that in some areas, Toyota has simply not done enough to inform independent repair shops of its offerings. 

"With remanufactured parts, there's still an awareness factor that we are working on," he said.  "I think a lot of people don't realize that Toyota has a pretty stout reman line."

 
Remanufactured product lines include starters, alternators, A/C compressors with clutch, CV axles, automatic transmissions, and brake calipers, Raskind said.  "And we're always discussing other lines that we should consider adding."

Raskind said that part of the company's efforts have also centered on listening to what the industry would find helpful and providing it.  For instance, he said, its ToyotaPartsandService.com Web site, which was launched in 2005, was relaunched in early 2007 with added functions that users had requested.  "We asked for input, and we got some pretty candid opinions," he said.  "They told us it was too marketing driven and consumer-oriented."  A new site was designed around that feedback, he said.

Among the new Web site functions is the ability to look up and order parts from Toyota's fast-moving parts catalog, Raskind said.  There is also a "My Parts Page," which allows users to save orders for reuse, save technical articles, and otherwise personalize the site.

 
"We gave them a lot of functionality that is good for their business," he said, "and we will be adding more as we get more feedback."  The site is free, he added, requiring only that shops register.

On the technical side, Raskind said Toyota has really been pushing its Technical Information System (TIS) Web site in an effort to make shops aware of all of the technical information now available to them.  The TIS Web site is available by subscription, Raskind said, adding that Toyota's Support to Automotive Repair (STAR) dealers also receive free subscriptions to hand out to their top wholesale customers.

 
The STAR program also includes quarterly newsletters for the mechanical and collision markets that include technical and management information for shops.  The newsletters are available free through STAR dealers or at ToyotaPartsandService.com.

Raskind said Toyota has a vested interest in ensuring that independent repair shops -- collision and mechanical--have the information and the best parts available to fix the Toyotas that are coming through their doors.  "Ultimately, we want to work together so that the Toyota owner has a quality experience throughout the life of that vehicle, so that when it is time for a new vehicle, they will buy another Toyota," he said.  "Wherever our cars go for service, we want them to be repaired properly."