One of the longest-running and best-known motoring slogans in the country will be scrapped following a complaint by a company working on behalf of Toyota’s largest competitor, Volkswagen. The complaint was subsequently withdrawn in late 2015 and there were also a very small number of individual consumer complaints.

Toyota believes that the ASAI decision is a highly unusual one in that it has now refused to allow an appeal of the ruling despite the weight of evidence provided. Steve Tormey, chief executive, Toyota Ireland, commented: “We are absolutely bemused by this ruling from the ASAI and their refusal to allow an appeal. It would appear to us they are dancing on a pin head as regards the use of the English language and common sense, particularly given that the independent automotive industry expert commissioned by the ASAI expressed the viewpoint that the proposition had been substantiated in relation to the “best built mass produced cars in the world”.

“Toyota firmly believes that the validity of its brand line is stronger today than ever. Increasing substantiation provided over a number of years, accepted consistently by the ASAI, has been verified by industry surveys, consumer reports, academic viewpoints and by the independent industry expert commissioned by the ASAI.

“Since the ASAI expert concluded that Toyota produces the ‘best built mass produced cars in the world’, and given that Toyota clearly operates within the mass market (which in the context of the Irish market equates to 99.98% of cars, with the 0.02% in question being super cars, such as Ferrari or Maserati), we maintain that ‘the best built cars in the world’ has not only been substantiated, but is clearly understood by the Irish consumers.

The slogan was arrived at more than 20 years ago by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in a report called “The Machine that Changed the World”. This was an independent worldwide audit of car manufacturing that cost $5m and took five years to complete.