A snappy bumper sticker can help move a product, a candidate or an idea. Better is a track record of delivering on the promise of the phrase. Best is when every action of a company is aligned behind it. Toyota has long stood as a leading example of the best. Look no further than this from the LA Times:
“For its part, Toyota has come to stand for utter reliability, financial prudence and a certain intelligently independent style. From that perspective, the Prius hybrid represents an America in which personal mobility and personal responsibility are happily compatible.”
But that, of course was before the slow recall of millions of its vehicles for problems on both sides of a really bad penny: sudden acceleration and delayed braking. A comment at GlobalPost.com showed just how steep a climb the car company faces:
“A few American voices are emerging in Toyota’s defense, but the overriding sentiment is one of anger — mixed with disbelief — that a company synonymous with quality and reliability has come unstuck in such devastating fashion.”
The question now is whether the company can regain its footing no matter how much time or investment. Much like the tanker Exxon Valdez, the unsinkable Titanic and Union Carbide in Bhopal, Toyota is on the verge of becoming a noun, not a name.
“This book is a Toyota,” said Robert S. Norris, the author of “Racing for the Bomb” and an atomic historian. “The publisher should recall it, issue an apology and fix the parts that endanger the historical record.” Norris was quoted in a NY Times article revealing that a celebrated best-seller on the Hiroshima bombing was based on lies and self-promotion. Say it to yourself: “This book is a Toyota.”
It is one of a few, early instances of the shift of Toyota being an emblem for what’s wrong, but it makes the company’s climb steeper back in to the good graces of the market. What will come next likely will be a rallying of support, over-communication of changes made in design and manufacture, and better deals on the cars.
But to regain its market-leading standing, Toyota will have to successfully perform in full view of the public over generations. In the competitive marketplace that autos represents today (see: India, China) that may be too much of a big, hairy, audacious goal.
