Toyota’s chairman has reportedly urged Japanese car makers to raise prices or find other ways to even the playing field with ailing US rivals General Motors and Ford in hopes of heading off a possible protectionist backlash in the crucial North American market.
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According to the Associated Press, Toyota Motor chairman Hiroshi Okuda was quoted by Japanese media on Tuesday as saying the plight of GM and Ford could result in problems for Toyota and other foreign car makers.
Okuda was said to have told reporters on Monday that Japan’s motor industry must consider a response, such as raising carprices in the United States and cooperating in technology.
“We need to give some time for American companies to take a breath,” Okuda was quoted as saying by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Japan’s biggest business daily.
“I’m concerned about the current situation surrounding GM. Although a trade conflict, like ones (that) happened in the past, may be avoided, there may be some impact (on Japan’s car industry) because the car industry is symbolic in the US economy,” Okuda was quoted as saying by the Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun.
A Toyota spokeswoman on Tuesday confirmed to the Associated Press the quotes from the two newspapers, but added that the company has no plans to raise prices on its US models.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, she also noted that Okuda was speaking in his capacity as the head of the key Japanese business lobby Keidanren, AP added.
The news agency noted that Toyota and other Japanese automakers were the target of US workers’ outrage in the 1980s when they were accused of robbing jobs from American workers and market share from US automakers but such sentiments have since subsided because Toyota and other Japanese automakers increasingly produce cars in the United States, creating jobs for thousands of Americans.
But Okuda’s comments appeared to be an attempt to stave off any possible backlash, AP said, adding that his remarks also suggests that he sees the American automakers as needing help to compete with Japan’s car companies.
