It wasn't lost on me that this Easter weekend, a time every year when
the world pauses to celebrate good over evil, it was learned that the
Toyota Motor Company had an 87 percent sales increase in March over the
month before and a 41 percent increase over March a year ago. That's
right, the same company so brutally and unfairly bashed in Congress this
winter just sold more vehicles (186,000) last month than any other
brand in the United States.
Moreover, the incentives package offered by what I am now assured is the world's safest and most reliable automobile have actually kick-started the economically-stalled automotive industry. Plainly put, all that a union-driven "witch hunt" could do to humiliate and defraud a great and noble global company just blew up in its face.
Back in late January, I "smelled a fish" when media-driven hysteria broke out over the company's recall woes. While I would never dare make light of even one person who was injured or killed due to sudden acceleration, faulty transmissions or sliding floor mats, the fact that 20 million Americans were quite satisfied with their Toyota products simply didn't add up when the dark clouds gathered and the cold wind blew.
Well, a lot has happened since then, the biggest for me being the fact that I've gone from a one man who didn't fall for the largely-unfounded rhetoric to one of 200,000 Americans who today proudly wears a Toyota patch. I offer that not just as a disclaimer, but instead to say I have now seen an inside to a company that I candidly believe is one of the finest and most exciting in the world.
I can safely say that as a result of the misguided ridicule that extended to a personal attack of Toyota president Akio Toyoda by a union-fueled Congress, the entire Toyota army has banded behind this gentle man and today produces cars and trucks under the most stringent and demanding safety standards ever known in history.
Further, the response to each and every car owner has been unprecedented. Toyota was not only offering loaner cars and taxi fares to owners of cars that were recalled, the customer service afforded to each brought a crescendo of renewed loyalty and admiration.
Time and time again, the recalls proved fruitless. There was ridiculously little found to be wrong, but gas pedals, floor mats or whatever else was dutifully replaced anyway. In short, Toyota did not only do the right thing, they went over and beyond it.
While this was all going on, I received almost 1,000 emails from Toyota employees across the United States who had been insulted and hurt by the wide-spread media allegations. This assured me that for all we hear is wrong and twisted in some parts of corporate America today, it is right and well with Toyota. There is a genuine love for the company, so help me, that I believe can rarely be matched in today's American workplace.
Because of my fascination, I found that when the hysteria reached such a peak that it forced some assembly lines to temporarily cease production, every Toyota employee affected was still paid in full. When the recalls delayed the opening of a new plant that will hire 2,000 in an impoverished area of Mississippi, Toyota still delivered a $50 million pledge to the state earmarked to improve education for every child.
Are you kidding me? I have viable proof of the millions of dollars Toyota has given to this country in the form of youth ball fields, United Way, the Red Cross, you name it. At a time when we are praying daily for the unemployed and the uninsured, I can show you 200,000 fiercely-loyal Americans who are being treated in such a way they will literally do anything as long as it's legal to prove Toyota is, quite simply, the "best."
Industry analysts say the biggest reason for the March sales are generous incentives. I cannot argue with five-year financing at no interest. But I can also point to the fact that the Camry and Avalon cars now made in Georgetown, Ky., or the Tundra pickups being assembled in San Antonio, are unquestionably among the most advanced, reliable and wonderful vehicles that have ever been built.
I believe, in my simple way, that the Toyota resolve has triggered a huge resurgence in the overall automotive market. Last month's figures from GM, Ford and Honda prove it. But could it be, as the auto business begins to bloom like spring jonquils, our overall economy might soon show signs of life as well? Is there some way we can force a similar turn-around in the housing and construction sectors?
That may be wishful thinking, but I know things are getting better. Toyota just proved it by using the American public as its litmus paper. And if you think the March triumph is something, just you watch.
When the company's April incentives are announced tomorrow, Toyota will further emerge from this winter's gloom, much like the cherry blossoms that are now bursting forth not far from where those unfortunate Congressmen cash their union campaign donations.
Moreover, the incentives package offered by what I am now assured is the world's safest and most reliable automobile have actually kick-started the economically-stalled automotive industry. Plainly put, all that a union-driven "witch hunt" could do to humiliate and defraud a great and noble global company just blew up in its face.
Back in late January, I "smelled a fish" when media-driven hysteria broke out over the company's recall woes. While I would never dare make light of even one person who was injured or killed due to sudden acceleration, faulty transmissions or sliding floor mats, the fact that 20 million Americans were quite satisfied with their Toyota products simply didn't add up when the dark clouds gathered and the cold wind blew.
Well, a lot has happened since then, the biggest for me being the fact that I've gone from a one man who didn't fall for the largely-unfounded rhetoric to one of 200,000 Americans who today proudly wears a Toyota patch. I offer that not just as a disclaimer, but instead to say I have now seen an inside to a company that I candidly believe is one of the finest and most exciting in the world.
I can safely say that as a result of the misguided ridicule that extended to a personal attack of Toyota president Akio Toyoda by a union-fueled Congress, the entire Toyota army has banded behind this gentle man and today produces cars and trucks under the most stringent and demanding safety standards ever known in history.
Further, the response to each and every car owner has been unprecedented. Toyota was not only offering loaner cars and taxi fares to owners of cars that were recalled, the customer service afforded to each brought a crescendo of renewed loyalty and admiration.
Time and time again, the recalls proved fruitless. There was ridiculously little found to be wrong, but gas pedals, floor mats or whatever else was dutifully replaced anyway. In short, Toyota did not only do the right thing, they went over and beyond it.
While this was all going on, I received almost 1,000 emails from Toyota employees across the United States who had been insulted and hurt by the wide-spread media allegations. This assured me that for all we hear is wrong and twisted in some parts of corporate America today, it is right and well with Toyota. There is a genuine love for the company, so help me, that I believe can rarely be matched in today's American workplace.
Because of my fascination, I found that when the hysteria reached such a peak that it forced some assembly lines to temporarily cease production, every Toyota employee affected was still paid in full. When the recalls delayed the opening of a new plant that will hire 2,000 in an impoverished area of Mississippi, Toyota still delivered a $50 million pledge to the state earmarked to improve education for every child.
Are you kidding me? I have viable proof of the millions of dollars Toyota has given to this country in the form of youth ball fields, United Way, the Red Cross, you name it. At a time when we are praying daily for the unemployed and the uninsured, I can show you 200,000 fiercely-loyal Americans who are being treated in such a way they will literally do anything as long as it's legal to prove Toyota is, quite simply, the "best."
Industry analysts say the biggest reason for the March sales are generous incentives. I cannot argue with five-year financing at no interest. But I can also point to the fact that the Camry and Avalon cars now made in Georgetown, Ky., or the Tundra pickups being assembled in San Antonio, are unquestionably among the most advanced, reliable and wonderful vehicles that have ever been built.
I believe, in my simple way, that the Toyota resolve has triggered a huge resurgence in the overall automotive market. Last month's figures from GM, Ford and Honda prove it. But could it be, as the auto business begins to bloom like spring jonquils, our overall economy might soon show signs of life as well? Is there some way we can force a similar turn-around in the housing and construction sectors?
That may be wishful thinking, but I know things are getting better. Toyota just proved it by using the American public as its litmus paper. And if you think the March triumph is something, just you watch.
When the company's April incentives are announced tomorrow, Toyota will further emerge from this winter's gloom, much like the cherry blossoms that are now bursting forth not far from where those unfortunate Congressmen cash their union campaign donations.
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