It is difficult not to have a soft spot for a company that started out by making textile looms and now defines its mission as producing “happiness for all”. Toyota became the world’s largest carmaker by steadily, constantly and soberly improving its vehicles, year after year.
Akio Toyoda, a member of its founding family, expressed its approach nicely last week as he announced he was stepping down as president. In his 13 years in charge, he had to chose between pursuing “quick victory” or “a path that leads back to the essential qualities and philosophies that gave us strength . . . I chose the latter.”
But Toyota has a flaw that, as in a Greek tragedy, results from these noble qualities. It has been so focused on doing better what it has always done that it missed the turn in the road towards electric vehicles. So Toyoda will become the company’s chair, while 53-year-old Koji Sato, head of its Lexus luxury brand, takes over.