Storytelling and myth about Toyota's crisis

"Toyota's success generated anxieties among car makers, medias, national interests

offering a perfect target for economic intelligence"

Since Toyota entered into a spiral of inflated statements

regarding the security of their cars, I felt like there

was a topic to investigate beyond the path of official

statements, both of the firm and the market. I read tons

of reports and sent my own stories to Paris, then days

after, seeing the increase of assassinating reports

shelled from the US targeting the Japanese firm, I

focussed even more on Toyota development. Curiosity?

There is more than a business story here and the man at

the helm is sincere. He's maybe the only one.

"I fear the pace at which we have grown may have been too quick"

I never really had a single look for such sedan vehicle,

privileging more the roadster type of cars, but the

crisis stirred my curiosity. So I took my pen, recorder

and asked a few people around a finance event, held since

Monday in a major hotel complex downtown Tokyo. Now,

reading papers, blogs and twitts, I found a hate campaign

and it was highlighted in this article blog title which

caught me by surprise: "Toyota Congressional Hearing

Theater by Daniel Farber" on CBS.

http://tinyurl.com/yhz4fcz

The word chosen here --theater-- might actually be the

right word for a horde of journalists who decided that

the Nagoya firm had lived long enough and that it had to

die, now.

Smeary campaigns

There are right now industrial and financial empires

which are on course of collisions, following the drowning

of GM, the US car market was ready to shoot at Japan Inc.

The misleading of the Nagoya firm came after the recall

of 8 million cars and the death of 5 people in cars

accidents in the US. From there the critics are mostly

vociferous. Still, there is no more probability of

dangers with Toyota than with an other car maker, and the

high standard of vehicles are guarantees that the firm

produce quality cars. But some don't buy it.

Quotes: Buzz and craze

"The reason is that the Toyota story is a fabricated

tale." "Toyota Calamity Presents Fresh Opportunity For

Rivals." "Toyota PR needs to quit clowning around." "Will

the Prius Brake Scandal Mean the End of Toyota?"

There even is a sense of holly war, as transpacific

writers and evangelists alike entertained. More, serious

university such as the Harvard Business School" entered

into the craze: "Tragedy at Toyota: How Not to Lead in

Crisis" http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6381.html

This other one mixed with some sense of crusade: "You

live by the sword, you die by the sword. Toyota's weapon

of choice has always been quality, a competitive

advantage that prompted many Americans to stop buying GM

and Ford brands. Toyota can only regain its footing by

transforming itself from top to bottom to deliver the

highest quality automobiles." etc...

"Schadenfreude is joy at the misfortune of others"

Could it be that there is a media myth behind Toyota

problem? Any dirty hand in the tool box?

According to a source, expert in Japan automobiles

manufacturing, the current shot on Toyota technical

recall is nothing else than an operation that was set by

spooks: "Toyota's success generated anxieties among car

makers, medias, national interests offering a perfect

target for economic intelligence" one source said.

"Toyota is a threat to car makers, the firm has a top

position and any technical trouble in this period of

depression and economic crisis, it's good to get a

villain," according to an other source specialized in

economy.

But an other expert of the car industry went even further

yesterday telling me there is a probability that the "US

intelligence manages now the Toyota crisis to manipulate

media and facts." No wonder, there are some who seem to

be smoking their own office carpets to deliver such

crackbrained statement but who can deny that Toyota's

pain is the other car makers gain...?

Well, not exactly: "Many “Buy American” backers are

besides themselves with glee at the potential downfall of

a smug Japanese giant. And GM is trying to take

advantage of the Toyota crisis by offering $1,000 to

people trading in Toyotas, Nathan Hegedus writes in

"thefastertimes.com".

Testify!

Three congressional hearings called to investigate how

Toyota and federal safety officials handled the sudden

acceleration problem. Other Toyota officials, including

Chief Executive Akio Toyoda, are then scheduled to appear

today and next week.

Why Toyota president accepted to testify? "Why other

regions in the world did not enter into a media,

politics, industry triangle of interests" my source

added. EU did not.

While we do not know why the car accelerates suddenly.

Toyota president Akio Toyoda agreed that the "expansion

of the firm safety and volume might have confused the car

maker".

Already, in response to what he characterized as a

communications breakdown between customers and company

safety engineers, Toyota's US COO Jim Lentz told the

congress that the automaker would soon implement a "swat

team" of specialists who would investigate vehicles with

safety troubles within 24 hours.

And then I found this peace from CBS again pinpointing

rightly the target:

"Jim Lentz told the House Energy & Commerce Oversight

Subcommittee yesterday that the company will share

results of a "comprehensive evaluation" of the

automaker’s ETCS-i system (Electronic Throttle Control

System with intelligence) that is has commissioned from

an outside engineering consultant, Exponent, as soon as

those results are complete. CBS News Investigative

Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson has obtained a

confidential copy of the Exponent report, dated Feb. 4,

2010. The report attempts to exonerate the electronic

throttle controls system in Toyota vehicles."

Company sales grow...

Toyota sold 537,454 vehicles in January, excluding

subsidiaries Hino and Daihatsu Motors. 416,411 Toyota

cars, buses and trucks overseas and 121,043 units in

Japan. In Japan, sales jumped 45.3 percent during the

same month from the previous year, while they gained 8.8

percent overseas, Toyota said... The new figures

underlined robust demand for the iconic Japanese

automaker although it faces a deep crisis over its flawed

accelerator and brake systems that have forced it to pull

8.7 million vehicles worldwide... Earlier this month the

company said it expects to burn two billion dollars in

earnings in the year to March 2010 due to the recalls,

but still sees a net profit of 80 billion yen for the

year against an earlier forecast of a loss...." Afp

writes.

Toyota dead-end or power ups opportunity?

A few things appear as sure things eventually : 1) Toyota

needs a crisis team 2) consumer sentiment in February

might be influenced by the publicity given to Toyota

defects and 3) wouldn't it be time to use such painful

blunders to enhance technologies and harmonize these with

current time : clear cars, EV and their declination of

car types and brands and make those more profuse on the

market? Our media rush into hanging hundreds of

engineers bizarrely has a smell of witch-hunt, it is not

helped by the arrogance of a firm that forgot what

quality meant. Will it end?

Epilogue

How to win a cause when you are party to it? Here is the

point: "Unfortunately USA Government owns Toyota’s

biggest competitors."

Here... http://tinyurl.com/yfs5bj6

Media's daredevils shows usually end in embarrassment