Akio Toyoda, Chairman of Toyota, had a Q&A session at the recently concluded Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo, during which he made a startling revelation.<\/p>\n
Toyoda who loves driving and racing cars himself, was instrumental in turning a company that churned out ‘boring’ cars into something everyone would like. He reportedly has a large influence behind some of the more exciting cars such as the GR86, GR Corolla and GR Yaris. Akio even managed to make Prius into a fast, good-looking hybrid.<\/p>\n
However, during the Q&A session, Toyoda admitted that he fears that Toyota could revert to its old ‘boring’ ways. The Chairman who recently stepped down from his long-time role as CEO & President, stated how he spent 14 years trying to change Toyota, but fears all could come undone in a flash.<\/p>\n
He stated how being told “Lexus is boring” at the 2011 Pebble Beach charged him towards making better cars. Even when his own engineering team didn’t believe anything required changing.<\/p>\n
During the Q&A session, he stated, “I constantly fear that Toyota will go back to being an ordinary company.” He added, “When that fear spreads to many people, it will be too late. Even with the title of president, it took me 14 years to change Toyota, but things could revert in a flash.”<\/p>\n
He also mentioned, “When I approached the engineering team\u2019s \u2018ivory tower\u2019 to give my impressions of our cars, they shut down the conversation, saying, \u2018We\u2019ve had no such data or any complaints\u2019. Even when I changed tack and asked them to drive something I thought was better for comparison, they replied: \u2018They\u2019re the same on paper.\u2019 It was really tough going.”<\/p>\n