Toyota boss told: 'Stop weeping'

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1 min read

25 June 2010

Toyota chief executive Akio Toyoda was told to stop weeping in public by one of his shareholders at yesterday's company general meeting.

The investor told Akio Toyoda: "Mr Toyoda, you've been all over the media this year and you've gone teary-eyed on several occasions. For a man of your position, this is unacceptable. Please keep your chin up and try not to weep."

Toyoda most famously wept when he was forced to make public apologies over the recall of more than ten million cars earlier this year.

Toyoda claimed they were "tears of joy" in reaction to the support from Toyota's car dealers.

"I will try not to go teary-eyed again," said Toyoda.

Toyota posted a 209 billion yen (£1.56bn) profit last year, against a loss of 437bn yen last year.

"I would like to apologise once again for all the worries we have caused our shareholders but we've managed to post a profit after a year of losses and I feel like we are finally at the starting line this year," said Toyoda.

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Los Angeles 25 June 2010

Re: Toyota boss told to 'stop weeping'

theonlydt wrote:
My beef is with the political posturing made,

One man's political posturing is another man's search for justice. I saw no posturing, only sheer frustration that in the face of a catastrophic environmental disaster a corporation felt free to indulge in PR spin, its well tanned bosses take sailing trips to ease their day, to refuse to answer questions, the company not to offer but be asked to set aside recompense immediately and not to have control over it, and to expect us to believe them they can fix a torrent of oil when it is clear they can't. Had it been a purely American company the CEO would be in a ball and chain by now.

Zadster 25 June 2010

I think the point is that some things are worth shedding a tear over. The death of a colleague for example. Crap throttle software design isn't.

theonlydt 25 June 2010

Los Angeles wrote:
So what's your beef? BP should be treated as leniently as a previous administration allegedly treated Exxon?

Drop the word allegedly from that! My beef is with the political posturing made, the "hard stance" taken, when the U.S weren't going to do anything about it beforehand. If this had been a purely U.S company I think their treatment would have been different - see G.M and Toyota as examples. I wish there were equal treatment and the U.S government took their small share of the blame.

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