Akito Tachibana has had an action packed-tenure since he took over as Managing Director of Toyota Kirloskar Motor in March this year. The ban on large diesel vehicles in Delhi was seriously impacting Innova sales and things were looking grim.

Yet, there was positive news when Toyota’s engineers in India proved they were second to none when when they successfully reengineered the Etios. It was particularly remarkable for a country which does not have a technical centre unlike other Toyota operations in Thailand or Japan.

Now, with the diesel ban in Delhi lifted, Tachibana has more reasons to be pleased especially with the recently launched Innova Crysta doing remarkably well too. “The diesel ban was a challenge and concern since it impacted our sales. It was a serious situation for dealers as they had lost volumes,” he says.

Clearly, times like these required patience and Tachibana was particularly pleased to see that dealers and suppliers were very cooperative through the crisis. Adversity also throws up opportunities and the entire Toyota team rallied together to improve the organisation.

Dealers used the time to build up product knowledge and taking care of customers. This hard work paid off when the ban was lifted and people queued up at showrooms all over again. “While these were difficult times, the team internally was pulling out stops to clean up the house,” recalls Tachibana. “We were logical and calm through the crisis. Patience helped while dealers improved their skills and people within continued to work hard.”

This puts in context why he is all praise for the dealers who weathered the storm successfully during these hard times. For Toyota, the biggest priority now is to make customers feel comfortable. “In a way, this crisis helped us understand them better and get an idea of what they want,” he adds.

Yet, the bigger message beyond providing an automatic option or new colours for the Crysta is to reinforce the message of safety. This is where Toyota is going the extra mile to offer test drives to the entire family. This way, they can truly understand how safe its cars are apart from getting a better idea of the space. “We want to push the idea of a family car for people to realise how important safety is,” says Tachibana.

As for the Indian team’s feat in reengineering the Etios, the Toyota MD says he is very proud of them especially with the way they clicked with their counterparts in Thailand and Japan. “All of them worked together and showed their levels of expertise. They were really motivated with the exercise,” he says.

Whether this will lead to a technical centre coming up in India eventually is the million dollar question. “Engineers here are very smart and knowledgable. They have good communication skills and would like to constantly push the envelope,” says Tachibana.

Today, the company is considering “more challenges for Indian engineers” going forward. Beyond Japan and Thailand, serious initiatives are now underway to extend their knowledge to other Toyota arms in the US, Europe and Australia which are home to R&D centres. “We would like our engineers to go to these places for training since we saw what they could achieve with the Etios,” he says.

Likewise, plant engineers at Toyota Kirloskar are also seen to have very high capability in the Asia Pacific region and plans are underway to give them more exposure in other centres. The MD believes this is an important step for Indian expertise to play a bigger role for Toyota globally.

For instance, some of the operations here such as body and paint have become reference points for other regions in the Toyota map. The next task is to extend this to a host of other areas. “We would like to be the showcase in every department and this is something that I am personally going to focus on in India,” says Tachibana.

All this is part of the journey from being just good to becoming an excellent company. “Excellent companies are involved in global operations and that is my vision for Toyota in India. They should also be evaluated by society as being excellent,” he says. This includes initiatives on environment, education and hygiene beyond the core objective of selling cars.

“I feel that Indians have huge capabilities and are smart in understanding what they need to do in a situation. Such kind of quick thinking differentiates them and in the next five to ten years, this operation here could perhaps become the most important for Toyota globally,” adds Tachibana.

The other bit of interesting news that promises plenty for India is Toyota’s initiative with Daihatsu for emerging markets. It is here that the lessons learnt from the Etios journey will be important inputs. These will include customer expectations, usage patterns in their vehicles, how the family matters in buying a car and so on.

The key is to react quickly to market requirements and this is something that will not be lost on Daihatsu. Tachibana agrees that “global modifying to local” is the challenge going forward for Toyota while constantly driving home the message of safety. “The market is changing rapidly based on customer expectations and companies need to keep pace,” he says.

The good news is that Japan is aware of the capabilities of India and the next 10 years are going to be exciting. “Everybody is focused on India and we can work towards that future within Toyota,” says Tachibana.

Related Topics