A multifaceted approach to different powertrains with the aim of reducing CO2 leads to an all-time sales record for Toyota in Europe, where 2024 ended in second place in total sales. On the other hand, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Toyota records excellent and stable results.
In an interview for Visit BiH Magazine, Damir Višošević, Director of Toyota BH, spoke about business results, sales, innovations and numerous other issues.
Toyota has been the best-selling brand in the world for several years in a row. What are the sales results in BiH for the past year?
-Yes, Toyota, counting only the Toyota brand, and not adding up complete families under one roof, has been the best-selling brand in the world for the sixth year in a row. Toyota repeated that result in 2024. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, which we are particularly proud of, we are the best-selling brand for private customers for three years in a row, which is the epilogue of trust in our products and warranty programs.
Which Toyota models were the most popular in BiH?
-Bosnia and Herzegovina is traditionally fond of SUVs, so 2024 was no exception. The best-selling model last year was the Yaris Cross, which is also the absolute leader in its segment. It is followed by the Corolla as the best-selling vehicle in the history of mankind, and of course, let’s not forget the C-HR and RAV4. Here I would like to emphasize the strong take-off of our LCV program, intended for the economy, of which the best is yet to come.
Toyota is a company that pays great attention to ecology and reducing CO2 emissions. You are pioneers in numerous innovations that lead to air pollution reduction. How important is that nowadays?
-Yes, 27 years ago, Toyota was the first to apply HYBRID technology in its vehicles, and it is still one of our most important ways to minimize CO2. As a brand with such experience and a brand that is a sales leader on all continents, Toyota’s strategy is a multi-path (multi-direction path) in achieving zero pollution emissions. We are the only brand that offers vehicles powered by internal combustion engines (ICE), full HYBRID vehicles (HEV), Plug-in vehicles (PHEV), fully electric vehicles (BEV) and hydrogen-powered vehicles (HFCV). Of course, this is the most important transition in fuel types since the invention of the automobile.
We have also witnessed numerous socially responsible projects of the company in the past period. We believe that this will continue in the future. Can you highlight some of the most significant social responsibility projects in the past year?
-Our obligation as a local company, I would like to emphasize that Toyota BH is a Bosnian and Herzegovina company with 18 employees, is to give back part of our free time and part of our profits to the local community in some way. Our activities are often afforestation, landscaping of children’s playgrounds, helping the vulnerable part of the population, donations to institutions in need. You can sometimes see some of these activities in the media, most often, when we do them with our friends from the media world, but we try to keep most of them to ourselves and not advertise humanitarian work.
In 2023, the first fully electric Toyota Bz4X arrived in BiH and that, I think, is where the story ends. Are you satisfied with the sales of this model and what is generally happening with the production of Toyota electric vehicles?
-The Bz4X is just part of the multi-path strategy, and it has fulfilled its goal of offering a full BEV vehicle. This year, its redesigned successor is coming, as well as a slightly larger “brother” called the Bz4X Touring. It is a seven-seat vehicle. Recently, a smaller SUV BEV called the Urban Cruiser has also been offered in Europe.
What is the biggest obstacle to the development and expansion of electric vehicle sales in BiH?
-Several elements limit the expansion of this part of sales, and the main one is of course the infrastructure and wider community support for these projects.
Toyota is also the first car manufacturer to provide a 10-year warranty on its vehicles. You recently announced the possibility of increasing the warranty to 15 years. Can we expect this incredible benefit soon?
-Yes, I announced that we are calculating this benefit for our customers. The final decision has not yet been made because it is a pan-European project.
What are the business expectations for this year, and what innovations do you plan to introduce to the BiH market?
– The expectations are that we will expand further, to strengthen our sales service network, to strengthen our staff. We want to complete the projects for arranging our sales service salons and move to a new level of business, FFT (Front line for Tomorrow). FFT represents a greater synergy of sales and after-sales staff, with the goal of the ultimate satisfaction of our customers. Of course, everything we do is for the further stability and development of the brand, but our main and greatest goal, as always, is to reach the level of the greatest complete satisfaction of our customers and that is what sets us apart from the competition.
