New Boss at Toyota

The other day, Toyota welcomed their new president and he had a press conference. This is what he has to say.

・They started facing hardship in the second half of last year. It is a departure in the middle of a storm.
・They have to decide where to attack and where to withdraw.
・They have to work together as a team to restructure a new stronger Toyota.
・This hardship will last at least 2 more years. Place priority on making profit as early as possible even a season earlier than expected.
・Through making cars, they have to answer to the needs of the society, make people live in prosperity: and as a business rooted in the community, they will stimulate the economy of the local community. But they are in a big hole, they cannot even properly pay tax, which is a minimum duty. I feel frustrated. This is the start at the bottom rung.
・They would do their best to avoid being in the red three years in a row.
・He does not think they made a mistake in the idea of expanding their business in order to answer their customers’ needs but without a realistic plan, they could not ride on their strength alone.
・From the strategy of putting all the line-ups in all the areas, they are changing directions to develop individual needs by area.
・What he wants his employees to know is that it is not how much profit they would be making. Their target is to make “better quality cars”. They have to think what sort of cars people in each area want and how much they are prepared to pay. The new Prius, which is reaching 200,000 domestic orders, made them happy.
・He does not think that the young generation have lost interest (in cars). Instead, they do not have a chance to use cars. If older generations show them how enjoyable it is to own a car, young people might follow us.
・Toyota-maru departed in the middle of a storm without a sea chart. Honestly, they do not have time to talk about yesterday’s weather. They will just keep going forward, thinking about the current weather, thinking about the weather tomorrow for a safe journey forward.
・In today’s world, it will be hard whoever becomes the president. He has learned a lot from different people after being born as a Toyoda. He would like to make an effort to pay the society back through their business.

Before this press conference, as a hedge against the downturn in business, it was announced that all the top management including the president Akio Toyoda voluntarily would give 30% of their income back to the company. Listening to this, I will not be the only one who felt their mettle toward restructure with solid determination. While US car manufacturers are now working toward restructure under their insolvency law, Toyota has been leading in the business as the world No 1 motor company. Without being happy and contented in their current situation, their motto is “Tomorrow’s Toyota has to be better than today’s Toyota”. Now they seem to have a bit of a break for a while thanks to the good sales of the new Prius, I would like to see more from the new Toyota. Be positive!


★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
3B YS-Building, 1-2-2 Botan, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955