1. What led to the
downfall of the
Toyota brand-name
worldwide?
s1150027 Wataru Imaizumi
2. Contents
Circumstances of fall of Toyota
loss of Toyota
Prius
Toyota sales fall; Ford up sharply
NHTSA
Toyota's Humbling Fall
Toyoda: "Priorities Became Confused"
Reference
3. Circumstances of fall of Toyota
Toyota had overtaken General Motors to become the
world’s biggest car company. It had stolen a
technological march on its rivals with the fast-selling
Prius hybrid. And its famed internal discipline,
enshrined in the Toyota Way, would stop it falling
prey to the complacency and arrogance that had laid
Detroit low.By early last year, however, Toyota was
going downhill fast.
4. loss of Toyota
after eight years of growth and record profits, Toyota
had made a loss of 437 billion yen (£3.1 billion).
Watanabe, 67, had to step down and Toyoda, 53,
was appointed president.Toyota’s reputation for
peerless quality has been shredded. What started as
a small problem with throttles sticking open has
snowballed into a crisis affecting 8m cars that will
cost about £1.3 billion to fix.
5. Prius
It had stolen a technological march on its rivals with
the fast-selling Prius hybrid.Toyota struggled to
design, produce and deliver a fix for this problem, it
received another bombshell reports in Japan and
America of inconsistent braking in the latest version
of the much-fêted Prius.Toyota may have to recall
270,000
of the hybrid vehicles, and last week there were
rumours of other glitches.
6. Toyota sales fall; Ford up
sharply
Automakers on Tuesday released their U.S. sales
figures for February — the first full month since
Toyota's recall woes hit the headlines. Nearly all the
major companies except Toyota, whose sales
declined almost 9 percent, reported double-digit
percentage increases over sales in February 2009.
Ford Motor Co. led the way with a 43 percent jump,
which let it seize the monthly top spot from General
Motors Co. for the first time since the late 1990s.
7. NHTSA
Three-quarters of the fatal accidents (32 out of 43)
were reported to NHTSA during the four months
since Toyota recalled nearly 4 million vehicles in
October for gas pedals becoming entrapped by floor
mats. Twenty-six fatal incidents were reported after
Toyota recalled more than 2 million vehicles for
"sticky pedals" in January.
Forty-one fatalities occurred in vehicles equipped
with electronic throttle control systems, which,
Toyota officials have insisted, have not been
implicated as a source of sudden unintended
accelerations.
8. Toyota's Humbling Fall
It's an age-old tradition here for companies caught
selling bad products or deceiving the public. The
deeper the bow, the thinking goes, the deeper the
remorse.
And once the bowing's over, the Japanese
government often allows Japanese corporations to
tackle their problems in private. But that's changing -
slowly.
9. Toyoda: "Priorities Became
Confused"
Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda apologized personally and
repeatedly Wednesday to the United States and
millions of American Toyota owners for safety lapses
that have led to deaths and widespread recalls.
Unimpressed lawmakers blistered the world's largest
automaker with accusations of greed and
insensitivity.
Toyota has recalled 8.5 million vehicles, mostly to fix
problems with floor mats trapping gas pedals or with
pedals getting stuck.
