Toyota Motor Co.’s campaign to strengthen quality control and reduce recalls could delay some of its models, Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe said Friday.
Watanabe, however, denied that there was a decision to delay models across the board, saying the development of individual vehicles would be decided case-by-case.
The Japanese automaker is tightening its quality control methods in a campaign to reduce a spate of recalls that could erode the company’s reputation.
“We try to affirm each process,” Watanabe said at a demonstration of safety features west of Tokyo. “And in that process, some may be delayed, and some may be on time.”
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Toyota was considering slowing the development of some new models by as much as six months because of the quality problems.
Watanabe, however, said the company’s emphasis was on making sure quality-control procedures were properly carried out, rather than on how much time the process took. He denied the recalls occurred because Toyota rushed the development of some models.
The company is reviewing design, procurement, and other stages of car manufacturing, while looking more closely at complaints from buyers to reduce recalls and defects in production, he said.
“I feel we are making progress,” Watanabe told reporters. He also said he did not know of any specific models that could be delayed by the changes.
Toyota has faced an increasing numbers of recalls partially due to its efforts to cut costs by using the same parts across different models.
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