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Toyota hasn’t stopped selling cars in Japan but the company’s problems in the US and now Europe have made headlines back home. Toyota’s global success is a source of national pride in Japan. Akiko Fujita reports from Tokyo.
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MARCO WERMAN: January auto sales numbers came out today in the U.S. Most car makers saw in increase from a year ago, but not Toyota. It suffered a 16% decline in sales last month. Toyota stopped selling several popular models in the U.S. last week as it struggles to deal with safety concerns over faulty gas pedals. The company hasn’t stopped selling cars in Japan, but it’s problems here in the U.S. and also in Europe continue to cause alarm back home. Akiko Fujita reports from Tokyo.
AKIKO FUJITA: Few companies are as revered as Toyota in Japan. Wasura University Professor Kenneth Grossman says Toyota’s reputation for high quality and it’s attention to detail embodies Japan’s identity as a nation full of craftsmen. He says that identity has helped carry Japan long after its economic boom in the 1980’s.
KENNETH GROSSMAN: And then after the bubble burst it was one thing they could hold onto because they still manufactured quality merchandise in optics, consumer electronics and automobiles of course.
AKIKO FUJITA: So when Toyota announced last week it would stop selling and building eight of its car models in the U.S. the news raised concerns in Japan. One newspaper questioned whether this recall would destroy the world’s trust in Japanese manufacturing. Another said Toyota’s reputation for safety was in tatters. The country’s top business paper even noted signs of rising anti-Japanese sentiment in the U.S. In Tokyo’s business district, Hiroshi Kawasaki says that while Toyota is a company that grabs a lot of attention, this kind of headline makes him wonder if Toyota has lost its way. Toyota’s success story has long been a source of National pride in Japan. Founder Kiichi Toyoda started the company in the early 1930’s after studying Ford’s plants in Michigan. But the company’s real success came after World War II when it developed something called the Toyota production system. The system focused on continuous improvements, or kaizen, instead of overnight success. It called for flexibility on assembly lines and it mandated problems be fixed as soon as they were discovered so mistakes wouldn’t be repeated. Toyota’s system was hailed as key to the car’s quality and the company’s success. Ken Grossman says it gave the Japanese an identity they could build on.
KENNETH GROSSMAN: It came simultaneously with the boom and the golden age where the Japanese came to pride themselves on producing good things.
AKIKO FUJITA: But Grossman says that pride and quality and efficiency may have also contributed to Toyota’s recent problems. He says the company’s tunnel vision blinded it from its own mistakes. News of Toyota’s problems in the U.S. and Europe come amid a growing number of complaints, accidents and recalls for all Japanese manufacturers. The spike in complaints is partly the result of a new law that requires Japanese companies to report serious product related accidents. Government reports also indicate the number of domestic car recalls doubled between 2004 and 2008 compared with the previous five years. Despite those numbers, some insist Toyota’s problems wouldn’t have happened if the cars were assembled here. This man didn’t want to give his name but said Toyota hasn’t caused any of those problems in Japan. Toyota is still a very respected company here. Sayoko Teraoka says I think Toyota relied too heavily on workers in the U.S. The company should fix the problem and work hard to restore its image regardless of whose fault it is. Toyota is working to restore that image. In the U.S. it’s published full page ads to explain why the company halted the production of some of its models. Toyota has announced it would begin shipping parts to dealers so it could fix a problem that caused the accelerator pedal to stick. Next week the company plans to resume production in the U.S. But Executive Vice President Shinichi Sasaki warned Toyota’s problems won’t end there. In Nagoya Tuesday, Sasaki said the recalls were taking a toll on overall car sales. He added the sales forecast is something we’re extremely worried about. For The World, I’m Akiko Fujita in Tokyo.
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