Earthquake won't affect Toyota Ghana's production - MD

LOCAL agents of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), the world’s biggest carmaker from Japan, has discounted suggestions that the March earthquake that wrecked parts of Japan could possibly affect sales of Toyota vehicles in Ghana.
The Managing Director of Toyota Ghana Company Limited (TGCL) , Mr Takahiko Takabayashi, told the Daily Graphic in an interview after the company’s 2011 Users Conference in Accra that the company’s policy of producing most of its parts outside its country of origin had shielded it from the direct effects of the earthquake.
He explained that, most of Toyota’s products used in Ghana are sourced from Toyota’s sister producing countries.
Japan last March witnessed a severe earthquake that resulted in a 30-foot tsunami,  which led to the distraction of thousands of lives and industries including TMC, the global leader in the car manufacturing industry.
The TGCL MD said the TMC’s mode of production had helped to insulate it from the effects of the country’s most deadly disasters ever.
“Yes, the product Toyota is from Japan but we produce most of our parts and vehicles outside Japan. So, under such situations (such as  a disaster), we still have other sources from whom to rely,” Mr Takabayashi said.
He, however, mentioned that the company was currently recovering from its 29 fall in sales.
“The market is recovering. We’ve had high sales this year as compared to what happened two years ago,” he said.
The Sales Manager of the TGCL, Mr Andy Lamptey, had earlier called on users of Toyota vehicles nation-wide to develop frequent maintenance culture as a way of preventing their vehicles from deteriorating at a faster pace.
He said the huge investments required in acquiring a vehicle only made it proper that “we give regular care to our vehicles to prevent them from breaking down totally and even compounding the cost on us.”
He further called on those living in and around Tema to patronise the company’s Tema maintenance facility saying “that facility was actually built for your convenience.”
Management of the TGCL also used the conference to announce specific discounts on some of the company’s vehicles and maintenance services for its clients nation-wide.
The Toyota Users Conference is  an annual affair that seeks to update the brand’s users on the frequent changes in the global automobile industry, especially those relating to Toyota.
The one-day conference brought together government, commercial as well as private users of all kinds of Toyota vehicles nation-wide.