Phht..just more of the same old stuff. It's competition and so everyone is trying to take advantage. It doesn't suprise me. What I'm getting tired of hearing is this: "Some are suggesting it would be worth the time, from now on, for the company's media-shy president, Akio Toyoda, to be play a far greater role in managing the company's public relations"-From the article I'm getting tired of hearing that suggestion. Why? Just because someone is president of a company doesn't mean he's the best person to be the figurehead for public relations. He HAS made statements...which I think he has and had to do. But this suggestion that he should be on TV and in the media as the primary representitive I think is stupid. If he IS media shy then you DON'T want to send him as representitive. He's just going to look bad. Sure Lee Iacocca did it. But he was good at it. Plus I don't assume that Mr. Toyoda isn't playing a great role in managing the companys public relations, my guess is that he is, just that he knows his own strengths and weaknesses. If you aren't comfortable with the media, and are a media shy person, then it's wise to send others that are comfortable and are better at handling the media to speak for Toyota. Seems to me he's made statements. Seems to me he has Toyota responding. Except for getting into an Audi after talking to the media...which was a big PR blunder...there is no evidence to me that Mr. Toyoda isn't acting in Toyota's and his own best interest. Anyway, just my opinion...but this isn't the first time in recent days I've heard the suggestion that we should be seeing more of Toyoda in the media, which IMO isn't valid. I think as President he needs to make at least a minimum of statements. But if he isn't good at interaction with the media? Then everyone should quit expecting him to be Lee Iacocca...because he's not.
Maybe Toyota should run an ad about the history of recalls, showing a Ford Pinto blowing up on impact.
I saw a local ad this evening of two women walking, having a conversation. It was filmed from a distance with changing vantage points, so it amounted to voice-over. The conversation? I want to buy a car, was going to be a Toyota, Toyotas have problems, they cost too much for what you get, I'm getting a Ford. Local Ford dealer's logo appears onscreen. I forget which dealership it was. They had a swoosh logo, but that hardly narrows it down.
Toyota's cost too much for what you get? Have you driven a Ford lately? I have...feels like crap in the seat of an Escape Hybrid. Very uncomfortable...and cheap!!!
Nothing annoys me more than hypocrites. Ford offers Software Update for Ford Fusion Hybrid Brake Issue
Have any of you Toyotaphiles asked yourslef why Mr Toyoda is in charge? Is he the most qualified? So far the crisis(which does started before he took the reigns) management on his watch could not be in any worse. Feb 2010 is a month the whole island of Japan would rather forget by the time it is over. It is going to get much worse. Congress Questions Toyota's Fix - WSJ.com
? Economics is war more so now than ever. Read this: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/opinion/09iht-edcohen.html The Chinese exports tothe US are the basis for the communists party staying in power. Do you think they will just give up, or do you think they will keep artificially deflating the currency?
The worst part of all this is that US manufacturers can go back to business-as-usual now, thanks to Toyoda's stumbles. (that's not a typo) So in another decade or so when oil prices spike again, US taxpayers can look forward to another bailout - of both the automakers and SUV buyers...
It's a subtle but distinctly different debate as to whether you think Mr. Toyoda has done a good job. My point is specificly this contention that he should be the speaking figurehead for the company. He is a low profile public figure. I don't pretend to have too much personal insight into his day to day mechanizations. Up to very recently, even with the global recession I think Toyota Motor Corportation was respected as one of the best automakers in the world. But honestly, I'm not in a position to evaluate Mr.Toyoda's business savy. Recent events have been a total disaster for Toyota as a company. Nobody involved with Toyota would want this to happen. I think the only thing I can say for certain is as a total disaster I think it probably unfair to blame 1 man. A global corporation the size and scope of Toyota fails and succeeds as a whole. Is Toyoda part of the problem? Is he part of the answer? I don't really pretend to know.
Based on his public appearance last Friday, I think he should stay in hiding. My point about him is that his main qualification to lead Toyota is his last name and heritage. Bill Ford had the same qualifications last decade but had the courage and brains to step aside and let someone who was more qualified (Mulally) run the company.
As long as we're speculating about someone's life who we don't know nor do we know anything about what happens behind closed doors, I would speculate that Toyoda wanted to address the public immediately back in 2008. He begged and pleaded the Board of Directors to allow him to talk to the press and address owners. We wanted nothing more in life than to bring in suspected vehicles for a TSB. But the big bad Board of Directors wouldn't let him because it might not look good for the company so they tied him to a chair and threw him into a closet feeding him only intermittently and barely enough to keep him alive. They would get him out occasionally for events but they would hold his family as collateral until he was back locked in the closet, tied to a chair. Finally realizing that this whole accelerator and brake thing has gotten out of control and calls for action, the Board succumbed to the pressure and released poor Mr. Toyoda forcing him to address the press but in a very meticulous and controlled manner. This explains why we haven't seen Mr. Toyoda much in the last few years and also the hesitation to come public with it. See? I can speculate too! But mine are better.
That's very, very close to a reasonable answer, but you blow it when you use the phrase "stay in hiding". He hasn't been hiding. You can't credit Bill Ford for supposedly having courage and intelligence enough to know his strengths and weaknesses and step aside...but not at least speculate that Toyoda is doing the same thing in recognizing he might not be the best choice to deliver Toyota's message. I think as President it was and is imperative that he makes statements- ultimately. But I don't think it imperative that he try to become the primary spokesperson. To suggest that Toyoda has been in hiding is unfair. In a way it's EXACTLY what I'm talking about. We attach negativity to Toyoda because he's not acting like Lee Iacocca, or even recent GM executives. That's not fair to do.
I disagree, Mr. toyoda became head of Toyota in a minor coup. If I remember his first speech was a insult-filled speech about the man he was replacing, Mr Inaki if memeory serves. He was not a puppet of the board, with his last name he could have done anything he wanted to, speeches, adresses, anything.
What's that got to do with Ford or Toyota? And what country's exports don't support their government? C'mon, Malorn, you don't see the irony here? Was it Toyota that calculated it was cheaper to pay the lawsuits from killing people than it would be to fix their cars? Noooo, that was Ford, remember? The same company that now also has brake problems with its own cars? Yeah, Ford. Toyota's doing everything it can to make up for its mistakes - service centres are extending their hours and paying their staff overtime - not just sitting around waiting for their cars to blow up.
You may be right, but the Japanese culture is very shame oriented and it is better to ignore problems than to accept the shame he is now having to endure. Toyota's Brake-Safety Crisis: Made in Japan - WSJ.com
You are 100% correct on the export equation, something I have been preaching about for years on here. on of the main reason for the debt crisis in the US. I think you will find out in the comings weeks exactly how calculating toyota was and still is.
