Honestly Now: Mr. Toyoda Goes To Washington. So Will Biller And His Files

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

This was a rough night and day for Akio Toyoda, chief of the fishtailing Toyota. At around midnight, Tokyo time, the news reached Toyoda-sama that the Honorable Edolphus Towns (D., N.Y.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, had formally invited him for a visit on the hill.

This had followed a Japanese version of the “he loves me – he loves me not – he loves me.” It was made even more interesting by the botanical truism that the cherry blossom only has five petals to pick. Here, the chronicle of the deflowering …

First, Japan’s Transportation Minister Seiji Maehara was sure (hint, hint) that Toyoda would go to Washington to explain himself. Toyoda didn’t think so. 5 days later, Toyoda supposedly was already on a plane to Washington. Then he delayed. Last Wednesday, Toyoda said to the members of the 4th Estate that he’d definitely won’t go. A day later, yesterday, the official party line still was that Toyoda won’t go. “Mr Toyoda has declined an informal invitation to appear before lawmakers on a planned trip to the US next month,” reported the Financial Times.

Dave Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research, an union and industry-funded propaganda tool think-tank, gave the surely sincere advice that speaking through an interpreter would create “some real concern that might lead to a more embarrassing situation.” Throwing Cole’s advice in the wind, Toyoda changed his mind again. Later on Thursday, Toyoda said “he would consider testifying before Congress, if invited,” reported the Nikkei [sub] this morning.

Hearing that, Edolphus Towns immediately dispatched a formal RSVP to Toyota City. A subpoena would have been next.

This morning in Toyko, Toyoda said “ryo syo shimasita” (“I accept,” in a very formal way.) He “changed course and said he would appear before Congress next week,” as the Nikkei reported this Japanese morning.

In a statement, Toyoda said: “I have received Congressman Towns’ invitation to testify before the committee on Feb. 24 and I accept. I look forward to speaking directly with Congress and the American people.” He probably didn’t really mean the last sentence, but this is Japan and that is Congress.

Minutes later, Tokyo was rocked by a #6 earthquake by way of the bad news that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee had subpoenaed Dimitrios Biller, along with all Toyota safety-related documents in his possession. The Nikkei provided as an aftershock that Biller’s attorney would gladly turn over the documents to Congress. A spokesman for California Rep. Darrell Issa said outright that the subpoena was intended to get around a preliminary injunction issued this month by an arbitrator that blocked Biller from disclosing possibly damning company documents.

When the Toyko market opened at 9, shares in Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) opened lower, recovered an hour later, and then sunk like a rock. The bad boys at the Nikkei thought this was a reaction to Toyoda possibly embarrassing himself in DC. We disagree and opine the market is worried about the Biller files. Or maybe we are wrong. The Toyota share started to drop in earnest when Toyoda announced at 11am that he “will speak with full sincerity.”

The official news that the Toyota plant in Burnaston, U.K. will be idled for two weeks beginning on March 29, made the Toyota stock succumb to Newton’s law even more. 20 percent of the plant’s workforce will be sent into early retirement. TTAC readers are not surprised. The Toyota share ended the day at 3300 yen, down 1.78 percent from Thursday, and pretty much in bottom territory for the year.

A rough Friday ended for Toyota with Transportation Minister Seiji Maehara slapping Toyoda around (in a polite way,) saying that it was regrettable that Toyota “had initially been evasive about whether its president would attend,” writes the Nikkei. ”I hope Toyota will respond with speed, care and responsibility,” the minister told reporters. He didn’t add “as I strongly recommended weeks ago, but nobody seemed to listen to me.”

Toyoda will most likely spend the weekend huddling with speech writers and lawyers, before it’s scionara, and off to Washington on Monday or Tuesday for the Wednesday hearing. Schmitt’s advice to Toyoda: If someone asks you whether you came by private jet, answer: “Sumimasen, JAL went bankrupt, and American wouldn’t accept my miles on such short noctice.”

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • L'avventura L'avventura on Feb 20, 2010

    In 1989 though 1991, Congress held hearings lead by Barr on whether the FBI could seize suspects or individuals targeted by Congressional subpoenas from a foreign country without the cooperation and consent of that country. Under international law its illegal kidnapping, but the US has justified it in the past. Its a theme that has been constantly revisited under the Bust Administration, and revolves around the power of Congress' contempt power to enforce their subpoenas as well as Executive privilege. The US wouldn't dare do this to a Japanese citizen, the global backlash of could be severe, and Toyoda wouldn't be a target of this, but they would shame him into submission through the press. Either way all of this is merely political theater. Congressman aren't very popular given the economy, and scapegoating a foreign company deflects attention away from their decision-making and justifies a $60B investment in a domestic. Its reminiscent of Congressman smashing Toshiba radios on the steps of Capitol and during the COCOM incident in the 80s.

  • Rocketrodeo Rocketrodeo on Feb 21, 2010

    I think we should get on to the real question: Exactly ow will Toyoda-san travel to make his appearance before Congress? Will he fly coach to fully express contrition? Take the executive jet? Rent a Corolla? As you know, this choice is crucially important to his message.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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