Toyota Motor Corp which has climbed to second place in the US auto market this year, expects to increase its share of sales in 2008 and is steeling itself to deal with the scrutiny and criticism that have grown along with its prominence.
"We have to develop a little bit thicker skin, and understand that that's part of the game we play today," said Jim Lentz, newly appointed president of Toyota Motor Sales USA and the highest-ranking American executive at the Japanese automaker.
"We also have to recognize that some of the criticism is legitimate, and we have to make sure that legitimate criticism (is something) we look at and spend a lot of time analyzing and change direction, if necessary," he said in an interview Monday. "We can't be arrogant and say everything we do is right."
Lately, many groups are finding fault with Toyota. At the Los Angeles auto show press preview last week, environmentalists singled out the automaker for criticism after it rolled out a redesigned large Sequoia SUV. Last month, the influential Consumer Reports magazine said it would stop automatically recommending new Toyota models after the automaker's reliability ratings slipped.
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