The March 2 Issue of Automotive News Delves Into Toyota's Soul and Americanism, Along With Upcoming Dealer Arbitration Strategies

DETROIT, Feb. 26, 2010 -- Three major stories from the March 2 issue of Automotive News are outlined below.

On page one, Automotive News Washington Reporter Neil Roland looks at how lawyers for the rejected General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group dealerships plan to use emotional appeals to give them an edge in upcoming arbitration hearings. The lawyers plan to paint dealers as pillars of their communities, providing jobs, taxes and charitable contributions. The lawyers also will try to show how dealers suffered from the terminations of their franchises.

A second story in the March 2 Automotive News by Roland looks at the soul of Toyota. On one side is the Toyoda family, led by Akio Toyoda, wielding the influence of the clan name in a drive to restore the values that transformed a parochial Japanese loom maker into a global paragon of engineering excellence, skilled manufacturing and product quality. On the other side are the forces of a new modern corporate culture -- forged during the last decade of voracious growth and shaped in large part by non-family members -- that prizes growth, global expansion and a Western-style dedication to pleasing investors.

In another story on Toyota, Automotive News Nashville Reporter Lindsay Chappell asks the question, "Is Toyota American enough?" Toyota Motor Corp. has spent 20 years telling U.S. consumers how deeply it has sunk its roots into America. But in congressional testimony last week, Toyota executives acknowledged that the home office in Japan continues to call the shots in its biggest market.

The disconnect between Toyota U.S.A. and Toyota Japan, as well as Toyota manufacturing and Toyota sales in the United States, partly accounts for the giant's current blizzard of problems, recalls, lawsuits and public scoldings, according to comments made during hours of congressional testimony last week.

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