Scion Akio Toyoda outlined this plan, this “Global Vision” in Tokyo. It’s a kind of reorganization, an effort to avoid being caught in the kind of trap that did General Motors in and allowed Toyota to pass it in global sales some three years ago.
Toyota doesn’t expect to let Volkswagen AG pass it to become the world’s largest automaker – thus the concentration on emerging markets. The Japanese automaker sold 60 percent of its output in industrialized nations last year. It expects to have a 50/50 mix of sales to industrialized nations and emerging markets by 2015. Bloomberg reports that Toyoda said the company could sell 9 million vehicles per year by ’15.
Toyoda’s most important promise, though, is that his company “will build a global framework in which 1) the global headquarters will provide overall direction and furnish support for initiatives undertaken by the regional operations and 2) regional operations – the company’s customer interface – will decide on their own how best to serve their customers.”
It’s the strength of number 2 that will determine how well Toyota can recover from its quality and safety perception problems. If Toyota’s North American operations had been in charge of responding to unintended acceleration claims and the other problems that plagued the company here last year, the damage would have been less severe. Instead, Toyota Motor Corporation continued to call the shots from Tokyo, and it handled the crisis in a way consistent with its home market, where corporations have more power in relationship to the government, press and consumers than it has here.
The company’s operations here are called Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., which means “sales and marketing.” That doesn’t entail its production, or any of the other functions that Toyota claims makes it as much an American operation as a Japanese one.
Most of Toyoda’s presentation centered on promises of continuous improvement and of contributing to communities while trying to exceed customer expectations. Its Global Vision even has a tagline: “Rewarded with a smile by exceeding your expectations.”
To wit: “Toyota will lead the way to the future of mobility, enriching lives around the world with the safest and most responsible ways of moving people. Through our commitment to quality, constant innovation and respect for the planet, we aim to exceed expectations and be rewarded with a smile. We will meet challenging goals by engaging the talent and passion of people, who believe there is always a better way.”
Touchy-feely platitudes aside, Toyota says it will launch “about 10 more” hybrid models by 2015, while continuing to develop a full range of plug-in hybrids, pure electric vehicles and fuel cell powertrains, while continuing to improve conventional gasoline engine fuel economy. It will “position Lexus as a truly global premium brand” by offering a growing range of Lexus models in emerging markets, while expanding the Lexus sales network in established markets.
In North America and Europe, Toyota will “maximize productivity at existing plants and otherwise make the most of existing resources.” In other words, we’re not likely to get any new North American Toyota factories for a while, and may even lose some production.
Toyoda’s wish to revive passion in the company his grandfather built is addressed under “product appeal.” To “create great cars,” Toyota will “greatly improve the design and feel of Toyota models and make way for the leading role of localization in vehicle production.” Toyota will “offer genuinely exciting models that meet the needs of each market.”
Because Toyota first needs to restore confidence in a model lineup whose key attributes have been safety, reliability, efficiency and environmental responsibility, I’d suspect bland, competent sedans and hybrids will take precedence over the sports cars that Toyoda so much wants to build. The lineup won’t look much different than Toyota’s Geneva show stand: one FT-86 off to the side, overwhelmed by a fleet of Prii.
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