FEBRUARY 4, 2010

Toyota Recall Crisis

Like many people, I’m following developments with Toyota very closely. This is a fascinating and incredibly important consumer/business crisis. From my experience in helping numerous corporations, universities, government agencies and non-profits work through complex crisis events, I would offer 3 thoughts on Toyota:

1. This story has a very long way to go. The facts are still being sorted out. Consumers are rightfully disturbed, but they haven’t made any final judgment on Toyota because they don’t yet know what to expect.

2. This re-levels the playing field in the US for all manufacturers. This proves once and for all that quality isn’t something one company or one country owns.

3. Toyota is just the latest shocking breach of faith for consumers. Going back to Enron and the Catholic Church, and more recently with Tiger Woods and Mark McGwire, we have grown used to disappointment.

Let us know what you think in the comments.

Additionally, I was a guest on CNBC today along with Michelle Krebs, of Edmunds.com, to discuss whether Toyota can bounce back from its latest round of problems and who will be the winners if they can’t. Check out the clip below.