Japanese Government Worried About Toyota Backlash
The Japanese government is getting increasingly worried that the Toyota debacle might turn into a worldwide backlash against Japanese cars, or even all Japanese products. As the world’s 4th largest export nation, Japan has a lot to worry about.
Today, large parts of the Japanese cabinet came down hard on Toyota, says the Nikkei [sub].
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama himself urged Toyota to ensure the safety of its vehicles and customers worldwide: ”When an event that impairs safety occurs, the initiative should be taken to work for the safety of people in Japan and worldwide.”
Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Seiji Maehara was a bit less diplomatic. He said Toyota ”lacked customers’ perspective” and reacted too slowly: ”It might be that Toyota considered it a minor problem,” Maehara said and added that the company must deal ”quickly based on the viewpoint of customers.”
Maehara announced he will meet with U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos on Wednesday. Maehara said, the reason for the meeting is “Toyota’s significant share of the North American market.”
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said he ”would like Toyota to deal with the situation properly so that it can alleviate concern among users.”
Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada reiterated that the Japanese government needs to offer ”support” to Toyota in an attempt to ease frustrations among U.S. customers and “some government officials” at what they regard as mishandling by Toyota.
Last week, Okada already had called for government ‘backup” to Toyota as the safety problems involving vehicles produced by the world’s top automaker were spinning out of control. In Tokyo, the offer of “backup” was widely understood as an “if you don’t get your house in order, we’ll help you clean up.”
Okada is concerned that ”this is a problem for the whole of the Japanese auto industry and it is also about trust in Japanese products.”
Here’s thinking that the true concern of the Japanese government is about an increasingly proactive American government and that the mistakes of Toyota will be blown out of proportion. Toyota is facing a series of public grillings in Washington, and it won’t be pretty.
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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Re. Bertel's article: You really know that Toyota is on the ropes when Tokyo feels it necessary to "get out in front of TMC" on an issue ... for them to cross "the threshold of politeness" and what to an average Japanese would seem like assailing The Crown Jewel of Japan, Inc., this really means they are really fearful about collateral damage to their image and economy. Some other info: - On damage to Japan Inc.: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/business/global/09toyota.html?ref=global-business - On the recall of Team Prius: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/10/business/global/10recall.html?ref=global-home - And for our friend in Spain who said, during the early days of these issues, he heard little about the issue except for that on TTAC (and thought the US handled recall issues better in general): "Other commission officials emphasized that safety alerts only were issued once companies, like Toyota, actually had taken some corrective measures. The notice was posted quietly Friday on a relatively obscure Web site." (Prediction: Eurocrats will discuss shaping pan-Eu recall agency and coordination with US-NHTSA and J-MLIT.) http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/business/global/09recall.html?ref=global-business
"I still believe Honda will emerge as the biggest beneficiary of Toyota’s PR disaster." Yep. Honda is set to CASH IN on the Toyota meltdown. You just KNOW that Honda will go crazy on quality now. Danica is at the wheel and ready to take Honda into ... into... well some sort of super mode or something. I've already noticed Honda, Subaru and Mazda drivers now have the smug look on their faces lol. Rare German drivers have the "Toyota whatever never cared anyway" expression.