Toyota has been in hot water since all their recalls hit the news. The problems are a big deal. They are safety issues.
But the strange thing about this story is that the U.S. congress wants to grill the president of Toyota. When have they ever called-on-the-carpet the CEO of a foreign company? Maybe the imported vehicles have had such a stellar track record that we never had a reason to interrogate them.
But it looks to me like Toyota is being treated like an American company. We have so thoroughly tutored the Japanese in manufacturing that they have learned how to make colossal mistakes and (maybe) how to cover them up.
They are exporting cars to us, but we are exporting flawed manufacturing systems to them. That's one way of leveling the playing field.
Meanwhile, I have to say, it looks like Ford is doing something right.
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Toyota imports cars? Are you sure? What are its manufacturing plants in the United States of America manufacturing?
ReplyDeleteIf Toyota is manufacturing cars in the United States of America, does this make the actions of the U.S. congress appropriate?
Politicians like to use high profile cases like this for grandstanding. They want to appear to be the only ones who really care about the consumer. Toyota could never have risen to such heights as a company if they never cared about the consumer.
ReplyDeleteThe free market allows the consumer to evaluate products and vote with their dollars. Toyota's incentive to improve is built in to the free market. The government only complicates matters, and politicians use problems to get more votes by "fixing" things that aren't broken. The free market is not broken, even if Toyota cars are.