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The Dings and Dents of Toyota

DETROIT — It might seem odd to suggest that a 70-year-old company is going through growing pains, especially one with $183 billion in annual sales.

But 2007 has been a difficult year for Toyota, according to the New York Times.

Its reputation for building high-quality vehicles has been tarnished, most recently by the decision by Consumer Reports to stop automatically giving a “recommended” label to all its cars and trucks.

Toyota’s sales growth, which has been in the double-digit range in recent years, has slowed more in the United States than the company expected, causing it to lose its grip on the biggest-automaker title it took from General Motors last spring.

And it has seen some of its most talented American executives return to Detroit, notably James Press, who left the company’s highest-ranking job in North America to join Chrysler.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:01 AM to Toyota | Permalink

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