Word: kogyo
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Your article on the Toyo Kogyo Co. [April 26] states that the Mazda GLC is the world's third bestselling model, behind the Toyota Corolla and the Volkswagen Rabbit. You have been misinformed. Ford's Escort is the bestselling car in the world. Estimates for 1981 show Ford Escort at 823,000, the VW Rabbit at 759,000 and the Toyota Corolla...
...companies have survived setbacks as stunning as the one that befell Japan's Toyo Kogyo Co. Ltd., the maker of Mazda cars and trucks, in the mid-1970s. At the time, nearly half of Mazda's vehicles used the revolutionary Wankel engine, in which a rotor instead of pistons produces the power. When the world oil crisis began in 1973, the gas-guzzling Wankels became a sales disaster because they delivered a maximum of only about 15 miles to the gallon. The company seemed headed for the corporate scrap heap. Recalls one executive: "Every day felt like doomsday...
...Toyo Kogyo's road back from disaster started with an appeal to its workers. President Yoshiki Yamasaki asked the company union for permission to shift nearly 5,000 blue-and white-collar workers into sales jobs. Engineers, designers and factory hands were soon manning Mazda showrooms at 110 locations around Japan. Said one union leader of the arrangement: "It was a matter of whether Toyo Kogyo would live or die. We would be jobless if it died." The unions also allowed attrition to slash Toyo's payroll from 37,000 employees in 1973 to 28,000 today...
Blue-collar workers are now enjoying some of the benefits of Toyo Kogyo's new prosperity. Last week union members got a 6.9% pay hike. Says Masao Isoda, a 28-year-old foreman: "In the bad old days, I could afford only noodle soup for lunch. Now I allow myself the luxury of a fat, fried prawn with my soup...
...years ago, we were but a babe and Chrysler a big man," recalls Tojo. "Now Chrysler is a big burden for us." As Chrysler's financial problems have worsened, its dealer base has shriveled, and Mitsubishi has steadily lost ground to tough Japanese competitors like Honda and Toyo Kogyo. Last year, Mitsubishi's cars, which include the sporty Challenger and the economical Colt subcompact, accounted for only 6.9% of all Japanese exports...