As we gear up to watch the Congressional hearings on Toyota today and tomorrow, we checked in with our colleague Andy Fein, of Hans-Andreas Fein & Associates Management Consultants in Stuttgart, Germany, to see how the story is playing out in his neighborhood. The difference in perspective is interesting.
The big stories in the US are the political and regulatory scene, as Congress and the Department of Transportation try to get their licks in, and the questions that are being doggedly raised and denied about the possible role of electronics in sudden unintended acceleration. In Europe, coverage of Toyota’s crisis has a different focus, according to Andy.
One angle getting a lot of scrutiny there is the issue of Toyota’s reliance on one pedal supplier, CTS, for its major NA programs. The single-source strategy is being called into question for the vulnerability that it creates for an automaker. That issue has been mentioned in the news here, but only in a minor way, perhaps because of CTS’ insistence that it is a design rather than a manufacturing problem, but more likely because it has been eclipsed by other issues that are much more compelling to the general public.
The other lead story in Germany is the implications for the battle between Volkswagen and Toyota. Volkswagen has stated that it wants to replace Toyota as the world’s largest automaker by 2018. Currently at No. 3 with 6.3 million vehicles sold in 2009, VW thinks 10+ million by 2018 is doable, given its market share in Europe, dominance in China, strong position in Brazil, and expanded footprint in North America. The fact that Toyota appears to be heading in the wrong direction makes this the news of the day in the ongoing Automotive Olympic Games.