June 1, 2010
This is Toyota Fast Facts, an update on breaking news, our recent recalls and the work we are doing to make things right for our customers.
1. It’s Not About Being the Largest, It’s About Being the Best, Says Akio Toyoda
"I don't want to be the largest company in the world. I want to be the best," TMC President Akio Toyoda told Automotive News in an interview published Monday.
This is a viewpoint, the article points out, that was shaped by Toyoda’s training as an advanced test driver – and by his work over the years with Hiromu Naruse, Toyota’s legendary master test driver. "[Naruse] told me, ‘I don't want to hear what you have to say about cars until you really know how to drive one,’" Toyoda said.
By getting behind the wheel and scrutinizing the product, Automotive News points out that Toyoda has continued to live out one of the company’s guiding principles – "Genchi Genbutsu" or "go and see for yourself." It also notes that his firsthand understanding of Toyota’s vehicles and their boundaries has had a direct impact on his management of Toyota, in which he has pushed for a more hands-on, product-focused approach throughout the company and a continuing effort to make vehicles that are more "fun to drive."
At the end of the day, Toyoda notes, the company’s ongoing success lies in the continued excellence of its cars and trucks. "I’ve been called media-shy, and that’s not going to change," Toyoda said. "Here’s why: The main actor is the vehicle."
2. Toyota Launches New Safety Ads
Toyota today began running a new series of advertisements focused on vehicle safety in major daily newspapers and magazines, online and on outdoor billboards. The new series of ads highlights the company’s Star Safety System and SMART teams as well as the more than $1 million an hour we are currently spending to enhance the safety and technology of our vehicles. Television ads are expected to follow. For more information on what Toyota is doing to enhance our cars’ safety and technology, please visit
www.toyota.com/safety
. 3. Judge Gives Toyota 30 Days to Produce Documents on Acceleration Issues
A federal judge in Santa Ana, Calif., has given Toyota Motor Corporation 30 days to turn over documents sought by attorneys in the federal personal-injury and class-action consumer claims against Toyota involving the company’s recalls related to unintended acceleration complaints, Reuters reported. In his order Friday, U.S. District Court Judge James Selna, who is presiding over the consolidated federal court lawsuits filed against Toyota, directed the automaker to turn over within 30 days any English-language documents it does not consider privileged, such as those involving communications with its attorneys. Selna gave Toyota 60 days to produce Japanese-language documents, which would require translation. Plaintiffs’ attorneys were seeking access to approximately 125,000 pages of internal Toyota documents that the automaker had already provided to congressional committees and federal auto safety regulators, the wire service said. Lawyers for Toyota had argued turning over such documents at this stage in the proceedings would be premature and would violate the rules of pretrial discovery, the process during which the litigants are required to share information with each other. The next hearing before Selna is June 23. To read the Reuters article, please click on
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2819146820100528
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