By Soyoung Kim and Bernie Woodall
ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - When U.S. auto dealers gathered in New Orleans a year ago, they wondered whether General Motors Co
When thousands of dealers gathered for the annual National Automobile Dealers Association convention in Orlando, Florida, this weekend, it was "Toyota. Toyota. Toyota."
The specter of Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T>, and how it stumbles or recovers from the biggest safety recall in its stellar history, was everywhere, including at press conferences hosted by its rival automakers.
And everyone has advice.
Mike Jackson, CEO of the biggest U.S. dealership group, AutoNation Inc
"I support a gesture (from Toyota)," said Jackson. "The American people are willing to forgive you, but with that, they'd like a little gift, and off they go."
A source briefed on still-developing plans said on Sunday that Toyota is considering a range of options to support sales, including $1,000 in addition to the current $1,000 in cash incentives to returning Toyota customers.
Other options, the source said, include a free maintenance program -- such as oil changes and regular mile services -- and a new warranty program that at least matches Hyundai Motor Co's market-leading 10 year, 100,000-mile powertrain warranty.
Don Esmond, senior vice president of Toyota Motor Sales USA, declined to provide details, but added the company would look at "anything and everything" to reinforce the brand. He meets with U.S. Toyota dealers on Monday.
"The most important thing is to step up and provide the dealers with competitive programs," Esmond told Reuters.
The crisis comes at an inopportune time for Toyota. Major rivals including GM and Ford Motor Co
NADA chief economist Paul Taylor predicted U.S. auto sales this year at just short of 12 million units, up from 10.4 million last year.
Toyota's U.S. sales dropped 16 percent in January to the lowest level in more than a decade, after it suspended sales of about half its inventory due to safety recalls, including top-selling Camry and Corolla sedans. That compares to a 6 percent increase in overall auto sales.
Toyota's U.S. market share fell to 14 percent, down from 17 percent in 2009. But AutoNation's Jackson forecast that for the full year, its share would be down by just 1 percentage point.
"They will regain the majority of their share that has been lost during this destructive period, over the next several months," Jackson told reporters. "They are willing to move heaven and earth."
FORD 'LOVE FEST'
Meanwhile, the mood among Ford dealers, armed with a strong lineup of fresh vehicles like the new Fiesta compact and the newly designed Focus, could not be more different.
"It was like a love fest in there," Bob Tascar Jr., a Ford-Lincoln-Mercury dealer in Rhode Island, said of the meeting between Ford and its dealers on Sunday.
The only large U.S. automaker not to reorganize under a government-funded bankruptcy in 2009, Ford has forecast a profitable 2010 after posting its first full-year profit since 2005 last year.
As Toyota sales spun into reverse, Ford emerged as the big winner in January with a 24 percent gain in U.S. sales.
Toyota, GM and Chrysler all faced tough questions from its dealers.
Not so much at Ford.
"No issues at all. It was so boring, I didn't have a single controversial thing to say," Tascar said. "Everybody was so happy."
At the meeting, Ford announced it will launch a new small car for its long-neglected Mercury brand in early 2011 -- one of the 10 new vehicles Ford plans for its global compact car architecture.
GM, which emerged from a U.S. government-financed bankruptcy in July, said it is rushing to produce more hot-selling vehicles like the Chevy Equinox, Buick LaCrosse and GMC Terrain that its dealers are clamoring for.
"I see no reason not to be totally upbeat. What you hear from them (dealers) is vehicles, vehicles," GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz told Reuters on the sidelines of the NADA convention. "We need more vehicles, our shelves are bare of inventory."
Chrysler dealers were asked to hang in there until the fourth quarter, when a wave of new products is promised.
Chrysler "seems like a preacher on Sunday. It's easy to preach the Ten Commandments. It's living it (that is hard)," said Chris Saraceno, a Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep dealer in eastern Pennsylvania.
