Toyota finds success is a bitter-sweet pill
General Motors Corp CEO Rick Wagoner boasts about the number of markets where the U.S. automaker is number one. Toyota Motor Corp President Katsuaki Watanabe emphasizes where his company trails.
Listening to the leaders of the world’s biggest automakers, you might think Toyota was the one playing catch-up.
Yet, though GM begs to differ, Toyota has been ahead for the past two years. In 2007, the Japanese group sold about half a million more vehicles than GM, excluding cars from a Chinese company in which the American firm holds only a minority stake.
The gap may very well widen this year as Toyota seeks growth in emerging markets. So why does Toyota’s 65-year-old chief sound so worried?
“I’m constantly trying to drive home the message that long-lasting success is elusive,” Watanabe, a music lover and chorister, told Reuters recently paydayloans. “Our corporate DNA is about always challenging ourselves to do better. The moment we let down our guard, the fall could come very fast.”
Failure is not normally a word associated with an auto company that’s in a league of its own. For years, Toyota has led the industry by nearly every corporate yardstick: profits, market value and cash reserves. Outselling GM, which held the No.1 spot for the previous 75 years, was largely a symbolic milestone.
But as Toyota began adding roughly half a million cars a year to its output and extended its reach, it has faced new problems. Vehicle recalls have hit record levels in recent years and Toyota has slipped in quality rankings.
Filed under: business by Fred