It seems that lately, apologies are de rigeur in the automotive business. A while back, GM apologized in full-page ads for poor build quality and for building cars that customers simply didn’t want.
Friday, it was Toyota’s turn. Actually, it was Toyoda, as in Toyota president Akio Toyoda, making apologies. As reported in The New York Times and numerous other sources, Toyoda apologized for the deaths that led to a 3.8 million-car recall, as well as for poor market performance and lack of responsiveness to customer needs.
This is not the first time for either of these companies. In 2007, Toyota’s then-CEO Katsuake Watanabe apologized for the large number of recalls and quality problems. At that time, they had recalled almost 10 million vehicles in a three year period.
And GM apologized for poor quality way back in 2003. At that time, they said they had seen the error of their ways and had “turned the corner”.
What’s depressing about all this is not the fact that they feel the need to apologize. It’s the lack of progress since the previous apology. Different leaders, different circumstances, but it seems that in both cases, the fundamental problems haven’t been addressed.
In GM’s case, it’s frustrating because they have now taken billions of dollars of government cash, and they haven’t shown any real signs that they can get themselves straight. They’re still spinning their wheels, and burning our money in the process.
And in Toyota’s case, the real risk is that their entire sales model is based on quality. Let’s face it, Toyotas aren’t exciting to drive, they’re not particularly pretty to look at, and they’re certainly not inexpensive. People buy Toyotas because they believe they’ll never break. But once that reputation is tarnished, it’s very hard to restore.
Rather than apologizing, both Toyota and GM should get to work on the difficult business of restoring their reputations, and that can only be done by fixing the problems. Actions speak louder than words, and now is the time for action.
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