Does it matter how low the president of Toyota bows down? Apparently - Akio Toyoda didn't show enough contrition because he wasn't bowing deep enough.
The trouble with Toyota has been well documented and acknowledged by Toyoda himself. In its efforts to become No. 1 its forgotten its customers and quality.
If you need to look around through its range of vehicles none is more absurd than the Sequoia - built to compete with the giant trucks produced by General Motors and Ford.
Being No. 1 in the car industry doesn't mean you're a monopoly - but you might as well be.
The bigger and bigger you get the further and further management gets from design, production line and most importantly customers.
So when the customer says I've got a "sticky acceleration peddle" by the time it makes it up the chain to the guys that should have taken the decision a lot earlier it becomes "our cars are really fast" - no problem there then.
Having built up a reputation for reliability it is not going to be lost overnight.
Japanese tyre maker Bridgestone and US carmaker Ford got into a lot of trouble just under a decade ago - almost 200 people died in the US alone as Ford Explorers rolled over. Ford blamed the tyres, Bridgestone blamed car design.
What's needed is quick action, but its coming late just like the cavalry. What customers want is a prompt response.
My wife bought a Mini - one of the first from BMW's production line - it went into the garage eight times in the first eight months.
The last time as we travelled down the motorway - as I put the car into fifth gear the link between the gear box and gear stick snapped. The gear stick was left in my hand. BMW's response was to call us to the showroom three days later and give us a new Mini.
Now compare that to energy giant Centrica and the name it operates under that everyone in the UK will know British Gas.
We bought a new boiler and central heating system for our flat. It broke down eight times in the first year and sixteen times in a five year period. I guess any fair minded individual would have replaced the boiler.
Not British Gas. They refused. As long as they could fix it, it would remain in our flat. Oh, and we should take out insurance to cover against any breakdowns from them.
Now here's the thing. I would buy a Mini/BMW at the drop of a hat and I will. I would never do business with British Gas again!
So how far you bow down to the customer does matter.
Content on this website is for general information purposes only. Your comments are provided by your own free will and you take sole responsibility for any direct or indirect liability. You hereby provide us with an irrevocable, unlimited, and global license for no consideration to use, reuse, delete or publish comments, in accordance with Community Rules & Guidelines and Terms and Conditions.
![[QODLink]](http://english.aljazeera.net/mritems/Images/2012/5/22/201252212352677734_16.jpg "Click here for our coverage")
