External Analysis of the Automotive Industry Essay

External Analysis of the Automotive Industry - Essay Example rm has concentrated and accelerated its development of hybrid vehicles by providing customers with attractive and appealing cars people truly want, the chairman added (ibid.). The big opportunity for Toyota is to capitalize on its excellent goodwill and customer loyalty with the production of reliable automotive vehicles. Its Prius model is still regarded as the best-ever car among 300 models that are eco-friendly (Ikematsu & Honma, 2010, p. 1). However, the current fiasco over the Prius recalls (500,000 units recalled so far) due to sticky pedals and unintended acceleration has put Toyota in a bad light and together with the 8 million other Toyota models recalled worldwide, has put into question Toyotas manufacturing expertise and its priorities. Previously, the two earlier heads of Toyota (Sakichi and Kiichiro Toyoda, grandfather and father, respectively, of current president Akio Toyoda) had always emphasized the customer first in all its corporate decisions. This means Toyota has acquired a very excellent reputation for quality, performance, comfort, good mileage and a low price. But some independent analysts are of the opinion Toyotas present troubles are self-inflicted as it had strayed away from its original founders mission statement of serving the customers first. Priorities during Toyotas early years were always safety, quality and sales (a distant third) but the current presidents obsession to surpass the achieve ments of his predecessors by becoming the worlds number one maker (achieved in 2008 by eclipsing GM) led to quality problems. Instead, the obsessive drive to become number one caused Toyota some missteps that had greatly eroded its great brand name and excellent reputation for quality craftsmanship in the minds of consumers and other stakeholders. The year 2008 also saw the company posting its only second loss (but biggest) ever in its corporate history to the tune of US$4.8 billion. It had jumbled its priorities and put sales first and