Akio Toyoda apologises; Says Toyota’s cars are safe

Its been just about a couple of weeks after Toyota announced their recall of 2.3Million vehicles in USA and the company’s president and grandson of the founder of Toyota, Akio Toyoda apologised formally at a press conference in Japan on Friday night. Toyoda has remained silent over the course of the last few weeks and this is what he had to say today : “I am deeply sorry.” What’s the reason for today’s remarks? Toyoda told the audience of press,“I came out here today because Iwould not want our customers to spend the weekend wondering whether their cars are safe.”

Such an apology from Toyoda is what was really needed at the moment to instill confidence in Toyota’s customers. The company also announced that a committee would be formed to specially look into Toyota’s quality issues and address them. Akio’s predecessor Katsuake Watanabe also did the same thing back in 2006.

With new complaints surfacing about braking issues in the Prius hybrid, Toyota announced that the company would look into this issue and announce a plan to address them. There has been no official confirmation from Japan that the new Prius will be recalled but the Japanese and U.S. governments have opened investigations on the Prius and Toyota has pledged its cooperation.

This is a good gesture on the face of Toyota which is in risk of losing its global image. However, Toyota forecasts an increase in its sales in 2010.

Source