Toyota is in Ottawa today to play its “We're a Canadian company” card.
Yes, yes, officially, Toyota Canada is speaking to and answering questions from the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities. Ostensibly, the reason for these hearings is to get to the bottom of Toyota's recent recall and quality issues, as well as to explore what I have in the past called Toyota's “cozy” relationship with Transport Canada.
But what's really going on here is politics and posturing. The Members of Parliament are playing to the television cameras, much the way politicians in the United States have been doing with Congressional hearings. Very little of substance will be determined here. But if the various MPs involved get their way, they'll orchestrate a few sound bites designed to show they are on the job, working hard to protect the safety of Canadians. For the politicians, this is all about exposure and posturing.
For Toyota Canada, the goal is to reinforce the company's broad strategy of positioning Toyota as not some foreign company, but a domestic auto maker and distributor.
Thus, Yoshi Inaba, president and chief operating officer of Toyota Motor North America, here in Ottawa fresh from his grilling on the U.S. Capital Hill, launched his statement by pointing out that, “Toyota started selling vehicles here over 45 years ago and built its first greenfield parts manufacturing facility for North America in British Columbia over 25 years ago.
“That was followed by a full vehicle assembly plant a few years later. In addition, Canada is currently the only country outside of Japan to build Lexus vehicles. So I have a special place in my heart for the hundreds of Toyota and Lexus dealers, thousands of sales and manufacturing associates, and of course, millions of customers here in Canada.”
Inaba broadly has responsibility for Canada, but he's in Ottawa also to emphasize, “Toyota Canada operates as a separate joint venture licensed to distribute vehicles in Canada.”
Toyota Canada is anxious to emphasize its independence for a variety of reasons, not least of which is the fact Toyota vehicles sold here are equipped somewhat differently from those sold in the U.S. Why is this important? Toyota wants to underscore the fact that the floor mats sold in recalled vehicles here are different from those sold in the U.S.
Meanwhile, Ray Tanguay, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, is in Ottawa to further underscore Toyota Canada's “Canadian-ness.” He's in charge of Toyota manufacturing in Cambridge and Woodstock, Ont.
“Between our locations, TMMC will be able to produce more than 420,000 units annually. Our direct employment will be almost 7,000 team members. In addition, TMMC does business with more than 78 suppliers in Canada, providing thousands of additional employment opportunities for Canadians. And since about 75 per cent of the vehicles we make are exported, we are a major contributor to Canada's balance of trade,” said Tanguay.
Again, Toyota is a Canadian company. Hold your applause.
Finally, on the dais in Ottawa is Stephen Beatty, managing director, Toyota Canada. Beatty is a former chief of staff to a Conservative cabinet minister and he is at Toyota to help the company navigate Ottawa's corridors. Running through his statements is, again, the theme that Toyota is a Canadian company.
To be fair, Beatty addressed the issues swirling around Toyota. He talked about Toyota's “Early Detection Early Resolution” system, or EDER. He argued that EDER is a “tightly integrated, industry leading system” that allows Toyota to review and query all unusual service patterns.”
EDER is also intended to alert Toyota to any unusual warranty activity. So for Toyota, it's an early warning system. Toyota also has field engineers out there investigating issues.
“Together these systems allow us to quickly detect potential problems in our vehicles,” he said.
