Toyota recall hurts consumer confidence

In the latest round of Toyota's troubles, the world's largest auto-maker is recalling nearly half a million of its flagship Prius and other hybrid vehicles due to brake problems. Although these models are not sold in China, consumer confidence in the world's largest auto market has been hurt by the large recall.

Toyota car dealerships in Beijing say the massive global recall has been taking a toll on their business. Some customers are now skeptical of the quality of Toyota vehicles.

Wang Li, car buyer from Beijing, said, "There must be a quality problem if the company enacted a recall. I have driven a Toyota before and I thought it was pretty good. But if there is a car accident, the consequences would be terrible. So I prefer to drive a car that doesn't have any quality problems."

The world's largest auto-maker is under fire for its other recall covering more than 8 million vehicles worldwide due to problems with sticking accelerator pedals. Despite the global criticism over Toyota's initial slow response, some car buyers in China are offering praise.

Miss Zhang, car buyer from Beijing, said, "I think Toyota is a good brand. It's been in the car market for so many years. Once they found problems, they announced a recall instead of hiding it or covering it up. As long as there is an immediate recall, there shouldn't be any problems in the future."

Toyota said it would be recalling a total of 437 thousand hybrid units world wide. The latest Prius model is sold in about 60 countries and regions and is an important model for Toyota, which is betting on the environmentally friendly car to maintain its lead in low-emission vehicles.