Toyota Motor Corp.’s decision to halt sales and production of some of its most popular models in North America as a result of sticking accelerator pedals is getting lots of attention. However, there may be little impact to investors in the broader auto space, despite the resulting sell-off in Toyota shares.
The company has told dealers to temporarily suspend sales of eight models involved in the recall for parts supplied by CTS Corp. announced on January 21.
This is bad news for Toyota’s image and will likely result in some small market share losses in the near term and may impact its position in the market longer term as well. However, KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Brett Hoselton does not think the recall will have a material investible impact on the companies he covers.
It affects less than 65% of Toyota’s total sales in the United States, while vehicles produced outside of North America are not impacted. Neither is its Lexus brand.
Mr. Hoselton pointed out that the vast majority of lost production will most likely be made up within the first quarter of 2010, so suppliers should see little impact to their quarterly results. Their revenues are also diversified across a broad range of automaker customers, which is another reason why the impact should be relatively minor.
“Generally an issue of this nature can be fixed in a matter of days, rather than weeks,” he said in a research note. “The majority of any market share losses will likely accrue to non-domestic brands given that Toyota customers are less likely to cross-shop these brands.”
To the extent that this may negatively impact auto stocks, the analyst suggested it could be a buying opportunity given his generally bullish outlook for U.S. auto sales.