Refueling Toyota

Japan, Inc., May, 2004

ANOTHER fellow who impressed us recently was Fujio Cho, the boss of Toyota. Unlike Sony, Toyota has not suffered shocks recently and is in alarmingly good health, making Detroit's "Big Three" carmakers look like rank amateurs. Toyota has grown confident enough to be happy with the way currency markets are operating at the moment.

Ironically, the chief difference between Cho and Idei is that Cho seems to be nursing some apocalyptic thoughts about the future of his industry. He is concerned that as China's growth reaches for the stars, the oil supply down here on earth will run out more rapidly than people previously imagined. This has pushed Toyota further ahead than any other company in building cars to run on alternative fuels. The technological difference between Toyota and its rivals should not be thought of in terms of months--but years. It may seem odd that a company making such quality profit from the internal combustion engine should be obsessed with its eventual demise. But remember: It is precisely that sort of thinking that persuaded Thomas Edison to start looking beyond gas lamps.