Just a few thoughts on Toyota's woes and such.
1. They fucked up the PR battle long before they tried to cover up their sticky accelerator pedal with a floor mat.
2. Ask anyone at Toyota UK. One of the top execs so enraged the UK workforce by calling them useless goodfornothings (sometimes the truth doesn't set you free) that now he can no longer travel to the Derby plant for fear of being pelted by eggs from his own staff.
3. Ask the UK government, constantly being browbeaten by the Toyota Overlords warning that staying outside the euro would jeopardise survival of the factory, oh but please more tax subsidies and roads to service the plant.
Here's a little story from two years ago, by way of demonstration. Everyone on the Corolla and Avensis lines in Derby had to take every second Friday off (YAY!) with no pay (BOO!), oh, and a mandatory 10 percent pay cut. Well, times are tough in the metal bashing world. Sure thing. So when 20 executives from Toyoda City arrived at the plant unannounced, the workers feared the worst. Imagine their relief when it turned out that they had just popped over to play golf at St Andrews! Yes, the belt-tightening we're-all-suffering- together family firm somehow managed to find enough change under the futon to fly 20 execs first class to Blighty, have them picked up by limousine, and play a few rounds in Scotland.
Our Man is sure it was money well spent. Why, just imagine the positive effect it must have had on morale! Our Man is sure that kind of thing doesn't happen these days, huh?
Pic lifted from here.
4 comments:
Well put.
All this time, reading the dearth of newspaper articles and watching the teary-eyed press conferences on TV, I've been thinking about what an incredible waste it all blew up to be!
Naturally, some sort of responsibility-taking should take place, but this is not an unprecedented case. Typically people moan and groan about the insincere nature of the corporate "apologies" that get churned out whenever incidents such as this (or far worse) take place, and that is a legitimate gripe. However, in taking in this whole hubbub I think I'd rather the heartless semi-reflective/apologetic press release and a direct fix to the problem, than a world-tour apology fest!
Always enjoy reading the blog, hope the new use of free time is going well.
Matt
On one level it's pretty overblown; car makers have recalls fairly often, and the problems with Toyota cars are no more serious than other brands at other times. It's become a cause celebre since it's a golden opportunity to beat up the king of the hill a bit, and for some politicians a cheap way to show solidarity with their own automakers.
That said, while I could care less, it's not by all that much. I've not been behind the wheel of a car for fifteen-odd years, and not driven any vehicle since I've come to Japan. I never bothered getting a Japanese licence and if renewing my Swedish licence gets too complicated I'll probably just let that one expire too.
The car industry and its ups and downs is, for me, Somebody Else's Problem.
Nice to hear from you Matt. Good blog you've got there too. Have found time to read more now that Our Man has stopped offering his two yen's worth on everything, but the novel is slow going. Will post a highly self-absorbed post all about that shortly, if Our Man can be arsed.
Our Man drives a Nissan Giant Panda these days, though working from home, it doesn't get out that much.
'Will post a highly self-absorbed post '
they're always the best type.hsyteria and pre menstrual tension in middle aged men!!!
love it.
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