TOKYO, Japan – I’ve always found Japanese press conferences to be infuriatingly polite.
And that’s initially how it seemed Thursday as we were ushered into a large conference hall at Toyota’s Tokyo headquarters for a presser called to unveil the company’s much improved quarterly results.
It was packed, and soon highjacked by the recall crisis, putting beleaguered executives on the defensive, describing quality as their “lifeline.” They revealed that the recalls would cost Toyota a staggering $2 billion in lost sales and costs to put right the gas pedal problems which have led to the recall of more than 8 million vehicles worldwide.
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Just as I was beginning to enjoy it, Toyota called time. Thirty minutes had been allocated, and after precisely 30 minutes, that part ended. Then another executive in a grey suit took the hot seat to talk – for exactly 30 minutes more – about new problems, this time with Toyota’s best selling hybrid, the Prius.
The Prius problem is a brake problem, and involves dozens of complaints about inadequate braking on bumpy or frozen roads. It doesn’t appear to be on the scale of the gas pedal recalls, although the company plans to recall 270,000 of its Prius hybrid in Japan and the U.S., according to a report by the Nikkei News Service. However, on Thursday afternoon, a spokesperson at Toyota’s U.S. sales division said he did not have any information about Toyota’s decision to recall the Prius.
Still, Prius’ woes have a broader significance – the hybrid is the jewel in Toyota’s crown, and these cars were made in Japan.
Until now, there has been a real tendency here to see the quality problems as a foreign problem. Several times I’ve been told, “This could never happen in Japan.”
Toyota here is more than a car company – it’s a national icon. Only last week it was named as Japan’s best known and most valuable global brand.
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