|
As Toyota and Hummer have learned, growing too fast can be a dangerous thing. From its origins, success in the auto industry has been about scale. In the early decades of the 20th century, Henry Ford was able to democratize the car and dominate the early auto industry because he built, and then continually improved, an assembly line that could make huge numbers of cars in a short amount of time. Bigger was always better. But two items from yesterdays dispatch in the ongoing car dramas indicate why thats not always true. Item No. 1: The Toyota debacle . The mass failings of Toyotas legendary quality-control efforts are now on full display in the hearings that have subjected CEO Akio Toyoda to a ritualized set of apologies and humiliations . In recent years Toyota rode its efficiency and better financial managementit didnt have to contend with the burdensome pension and health-care benefits that sandbagged the Big Threeto large gains in market share and significant growth. In 2007 Toyota surpassed GM as the largest carmaker in the world. But something got lost in the process. As Toyoda acknowledged on Wednesday: I fear the pace at which we have grown may have been too quick. I would like to point out here that Toyotas priority has traditionally been: first, safety; second, quality; and third, volume. These priorities became confused. In other words, Toyoda seemed to admit, the company went wrong by moving sizei.e., volumeto the front of the line. | 
