Front page news in The Times, lead item on the BBC Nine O’Clock TV news, wake-up to it on the Today programme. A car story hasn’t received this much publicity since Top Gear’s Richard Hammond almost killed himself trying to V-max a dragster.
And all because Toyota is recalling lots of cars
Nobody in this country has died or even been injured. There have been no confirmed accidents in the UK. The chances of a malfunction are silly-odds slight. But, if much of the mass media is to be believed, trusting a Toyota with your life is like bareback riding a grizzly bear or sailing a dinghy solo around the tierra del fuego. Or riding shotgun with the Hamster at 200mph-plus.
Britain’s mass media loves to build an icon, and then shoot it down. From Blair to Bono, from Gazza to Macca, from New Labour to Old Etonians. Heroes one minute, losers the next. Toyota has been the media’s motoring darling for most of the past decade, thanks to the eco wonders of its hybrids and to not being American. But when there’s a puncture to the perfection – bang! – icons are shot down faster than you can mouth Michael Jackson.
With Nissan, Honda, Kia (maybe even market leader Ford) such a recall might get a few paragraphs in the business pages under the buyback hopes at BHP Billiton. But when the Big Cheese catches a cold, the media crow.
Toyota clearly has a problem, especially in America
Toyota’s quality has slipped as volumes have boomed, never mind the media exaggerations and safety frenzy. It has grown too big too fast. It has tried to cut costs while maintaining standards, never easy. It could become the new General Motors.
Car recalls, of course, are common, and they are always safety related
Yet this one is different. You buy a Toyota for its quality. There is no other reason. Toyotas are not fun to drive. They do not give you that warm glow of ownership satisfaction. A Ford or a Renault can be a pet. A Toyota is always an appliance. You buy it because it works, and works very well. And it keeps working. So a recall for a Ford or a Renault, while a pain, is like taking Buster to the vet. Shit happens. But when your fridge breaks, that’s bad. Toyota will lose some of the faithful motoring illiterates who constitute most of their customer base.
But they’re not broke yet. Not by a long way.
Toyota’s quality and production processes are still the most envied in the industry, and it remains the world’s wealthiest car maker
Stung and shamed, new boss Akio Toyoda has ordered a big improvement in quality. Toyota’s innovative efforts – including cleverer hybrids – will also be redoubled. Mr Toyoda, a keen amateur racer, even says he wants to make the cars exciting.
‘I am a car nut. I want to see Toyota build cars that are fun and exciting to drive,’ he told an American audience just after taking over the company reins.
If he can deliver all that, today’s setbacks will soon be a distant memory, as Toyota powers to even greater domination of the world motor industry.
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