Toyota's executives remained out of sight, as a recall of millions of the company's cars continued to spread around the globe. Toyota stocks plunged ending the week down 12 percent. The automaker’s worldwide woes are drawing alarm from Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry minister.
The scale of this recall is large, says Masayuki Naoshima, Toyota must deal with this issue properly and act to maintain consumer trust. In the US, law makers on Capitol Hill called for congressional hearings to investigate what went wrong with the auto giant's accelerator pedals. And reports to US investigators: cars sped out of control. The driver is reporting the gas pedal’s sticky.
Toyota says the problem is with this part of the accelerator made by supplier CTS in Indiana, though CTS says the accelerators were built to Toyota's specifications. As part of Toyota's global expansion plan, the automaker’s streamline production, so one part will fit multiple car models around the world.
That cuts costs, says industry analyst Tatsuya Mizuno. But if there is a problem with one part, he says, it will spread to many models and an enormous number of vehicles, and this case millions of Toyota cars from Europe, the US and China exponentially damaging the brand. While Toyota has made a number of statements to reassure consumers and indicate it's working on the problem, Toyota’s president Akio Toyoda has not made any public appearance to protect his company's reputation. In Japan, where CEO apologies at press conferences are expected, Toyota's boardroom has been remarkably silent to the surprise of industry watchers.
-Yes.
-Do you think that they need to deliver a strong message?
-I think so, I think so, immediately.
Not just overseas consumers, say many on the streets of Tokyo, but for Japan's economy so deeply tied with the high quality of its automobiles.
For the Japanese economy, it could be a serious problem, says Yuichi Kida, China and Korea are right behind us.
Toyota is said to report third-quarter earnings next week. While analysts will be watching for the numbers, consumers will be looking for something else--an explanation.
Kyung Lah, cnn, Tokyo.
Glossary
woes: the problems and troubles affecting someone
streamline: to make something such as a business, organization etc work more simply and effectively
remarkably: =surprisingly
