The Tao of Cars

Will the ways of the East always remain a mystery to the West? Check out Toyota's plan to revive its fortunes and then imagine the fat, ossified execs at GM coming up with something similar. And, even if they did, imagine their fat, work-rule obsessed manufacturing employees going along without pouting: Toyota Boss Vows To Change Priorities

The new president of Toyota Motor Corp. on Thursday acknowledged the company erred in the last decade with an all-out push to become the world's largest car maker and vowed to change priorities.

"I do not think we were wrong to expand our business to meet the needs of customers around the world but we may have stretched more than we should have," said Akio Toyoda, grandson of the company's founder.

Mr. Toyoda told reporters that his primary goal is to change the company's priorities, putting products first, not sales and profits.

"Rather than asking, 'How many cars will we sell?' or, 'How much money will we make by selling these cars?' we need to ask ourselves, 'What kind of cars will make people happy?' as well as, 'What pricing will attract them in each region?' Then, we must make those cars," he said (emphasis added-Psota).

???????

Mysterious! Inscrutable! Zen-like! Consensus driven!

Obviously, that could never work in America, where the goal of American car companies is to make pension payments, and provide permanent employment to dues-paying union employees who happen to live in Michigan. Good luck with that.