So Toyota's public relations nightmare continues as Congressional hearings begin into how the company screwed up on safety.
In his prepared statement to Congress, Toyota president Akio Toyoda admitted the company had grown too quickly. Indeed, it was so focused on growth that it ignored the more important issues of looking after customers. "Quite frankly, I fear the pace at which we have grown may have been too quick,'' Toyoda said. "I would like to point out here that Toyota's priority has traditionally been the following: First; Safety, Second; Quality, and Third; Volume. These priorities became confused, and we were not able to stop, think, and make improvements as much as we were able to before, and our basic stance to listen to customers' voices to make better products has weakened somewhat. We pursued growth over the speed at which we were able to develop our people and our organization, and we should sincerely be mindful of that."
But do Toyota's troubles mask deeper problems in the car industry? Leading management thinker Kenichi Ohmae seems to think so.
Writing in the Los Angeles Times, Ohmae says Toyota might be the canary in the coal mine because 60% of a modern automobile is electronics. It's a trade off between complexity and safety. "Toyota is on the hot seat today. But everyone should understand that the issue at hand is the trade-off between complexity and safety in an age in which electronics and computers dominate the vehicles we all use on a daily basis," Ohmae says.
If he's right, we can expect other car makers to run into similar problems.
no comment untill now