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Toyota afraid of US political backlash against market gain

"We have never said Toyota wants to be No. 1, and we do not give such orders to our employees."

Hiroshi Okuda, Toyota senior adviser

A senior Toyota executive acknowledged worries yesterday about a possible US political backlash to his company's booming success that is in stark contrast to the woes facing US rivals.

In recent months, US legislators from manufacturing states have charged that the Japanese government has kept the yen artificially low, giving exporters like Toyota an advantage, and that many vehicles Japanese automakers sell in the US are still imported.

While US consumer attitudes are generally accepting of Toyota and other Japanese manufacturers as they have expanded production in the US, fears of a political backlash are emerging as the company is on pace to overtake automobile manufacturer General Motors Corp as the world's No. 1 vehicle maker.

"We are certainly concerned," said Toyota senior adviser Hiroshi Okuda, credited with successfully leading the Japanese automaker to global growth during his tenure as president and then chairman from 1995 to last year.

Okuda said that Toyota needed to "significantly" increase the number of foreigners on its 25-member board -- now at zero -- and boost the foreign ownership of the company from about 20 percent currently, in order to win greater acceptance as a global company.

Okuda did not give specific targets.

Okuda denied that Toyota was making the No. 1 spot in the market its goal, and said it was merely trying to satisfy its customers.

"We have just being doing our job naturally, and the numbers merely came about as a result," Okuda said at an award ceremony at the American Chamber of Commerce.

The organization chose Okuda as last year's "Person of the Year" for contributing to US-Japan relations, creating thousands of jobs in the US and investing aggressively in the US

"We have never said Toyota wants to be No. 1, and we do not give such orders to our employees," Okuda told the gathering at a Tokyo hotel, which was open to the media.

Meanwhile, criticism of Toyota is growing.

Senator Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat representing Michigan, which is home to many "Big Three" autoworkers, has accused the company of manipulating the yen.

Representative Sander Levin, a Michigan Democrat who leads the trade panel of the House Ways and Means Committee, plans to hold hearings in Washington on Japan's undervalued currency.

Levin said that he was considering legislation to address the inequities.
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