February 22, 2010
Toyota plays the lobbying game
By George Leopold

WASHINGTON — If a Washington Post analysis of the Japanese car maker's post-recall lobbying efforts is accurate, it spells the beginning of the end for Toyota as a dominant global manufacturer.

According to the Post analysis, Toyota has for several years been spreading cash around in the form of campaign contributions and corporate sponsorships. The Post report says Toyota has just hired a "crisis-management" firm as it girds for a congressional hearing on recalls prompted by sticking gas pedals, faulty brakes and improperly installed floor mats.

The new lobbyist joins the 32 already working on Toyota's behalf on Capitol Hill, the Post reports.

In learning the ways of Washington, Toyota has adopted U.S. corporate management tactics and took its eye off the ball. In so doing, Toyota forgot that manufacturing quality was the key to its dominance. Instead, it is now caught up in the tawdry lobbying game that reflects the absolute worst in our current political system.

I've been to Toyota headquarters in Nagoya, Japan. I was very impressed. At the time I was there, during Nagoya's Expo 2005 (what used to be called a "world's fair"), Toyota executives were talking about the future of transportation and rolling out futuristic prototypes.

That's a distant memory now as Toyota digs in to play the public relations game. The only winners in this game are the lobbyists.

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February 01, 2010
Toyota's nightmare
By George Leopold

My next-door neighbhor didn't drive his Toyata Tundra to work today. The truck is among the Toyota models on a

We'll keep an eye on my neighbor's Tundra to see how long it takes Toyota to replace the accelerator pedal assembly based on a fix announced on Monday (Feb. 1).

Toyota is vehemently denying suggestions that the accelerator pedal problem is anything more than mechnical. Reports have been surfacing in recent days of wider problems with Toyota auto electronics. Again, Toyota executives dismiss these reports, saying that their fix will solve the gas pedal problem.

Time will tell.

Our former colleague, Charles J. Murray, addressed some of the auto electronics issues raised by Toyota's stuck gas pedal nightmare, including its throttle-by-wire systems and possible software fixes.

In the meantime, one blogger is cautioning Toyota owners to resist the temptation to trade in their suspect vehicles, suggesting instead that they focus on getting their Toyota fixed.

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January 11, 2010
Signs of hope in Detroit
By George Leopold

As the

Ford Motor Co., which made a big splash at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, is expected to roll out its C-Car platform ("C" for compact) during the auto show. Also known as Ford's World Car, the new Ford Fusion will be based on a single platform and will be marketed to the global auto market, not just U.S. drivers.

That's a fundamental change in the way a U.S. auto maker operates, and, if successful, would allow Ford to compete against Toyota in growing auto markets around the world.

There are other signs of a recovery in Detroit. One is the reemergence of a business incubator operated by Wayne State University called TechTown. The business incubator is focusing on generating job growth in a state devastated by unemployment by nurturing small technology startups.

One startup backed by TechTown, Ellison Corp., is developing a traffic signaling system based on patented technology. The founder is a former Ford assembly worker.

Together, these and other efforts big and small are pulling the U.S. auto industry out of its worst recession. What emerges will likely be a far more agile auto sector that reaches out to the global market rather than the other way around.

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December 03, 2009
There's something electric in Denmark
By George Leopold

As most international news organizations -- ours included -- are being gutted, the New York Times stands alone in the U.S. as the one newspaper still committed to reporting international news.

Earlier in the week, the Times reported on a big push in Denmark, the world leader in alternative energy sources like wind power, to promote electric cars. "For all their potential, electric cars have always been the subject of more talk than action, and only a handful are on the road in Denmark," Times reporter Nelson Schwartz noted in a Dec. 1 dispatch from Copenhagen.

Schwartz reports that Denmark's biggest utility is working with a Silicon Valley startup to develop the power and recharging infrastructure needed to make e-cars practical. Better Place (Palo Alto, Calif.) claims to be the world's leading e-car services provider. The company's collaboration with Danish utility Dong Energy (yes, that's really their name) is expected to cost about $100 million.

That's a big bet.

To spur sales, the Danish government is also offering a $40,000 tax break on each new electric car. That's another big bet.

If this roll of the dice succeeds, Denmark will have an e-car infrastructure in place that draws 20 percent of its power from wind energy. (The Danish wind farms just offshore from Copenhagen's airport are quite a sight.)

If this effort, and a similar initiative being pursued by Better Place in Israel, succeed, it could literally provide a roadmap for scaling up e-car infrastructures in places like Better Place's home state.

World leaders will soon be meeting in Copenhagen to mostly talk about climate change. Perhaps they should take time out from their speeches and backroom dealings to investigate real solutions to the world's energy problems like the Danish e-car initiative.

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