Dry angry voice at Daihatsu headquarters
Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2025 10:18 am
The morning of September 28, 2010, at Daihatsu headquarters in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture. A dry, angry voice was heard. President Koichi Ina, Chairman Hironori Shiramizu, Executive Vice President Katsuyuki Kamio and other management members were facing off against about 30 presidents and chairmen of dealerships. All 30 of them were managers of locally-owned companies. Not a single one of them was from a dealership with Daihatsu capital. At this time, Daihatsu had given a formal explanation to the dealerships regarding the OEM supply of minicars to Toyota.
"I'll let you know in advance. I'll listen to everyone's opinions, but no matter what you say, it doesn't matter. It's already been decided."
Daihatsu was cool about it. In fact, Ina was scheduled to come to remove background image Tokyo in the afternoon and meet with Toyota's outgoing executive vice president, Yoichiro Ichimaru, at Toyota's Tokyo headquarters at 5 p.m.
Of course, the 30 people knew that Toyota was moving to enter the minicar market. However, the position of the dealers was weak. The official explanation and report was only a formality at the end.
"60,000 units per year, or 5,000 units per month if we fix it. We won't sell any more than that, so don't worry." According to multiple sources, Daihatsu persuaded its dealers with this. The quantity to be supplied to Toyota is roughly one-tenth of Daihatsu's domestic sales.
However, there is a precedent where this number is expected to increase to over 60,000 units. In 2002, Suzuki began supplying minicars to Nissan, with which it has no capital ties. At the time, Suzuki had been telling dealers in a similar manner, saying, "You may be worried about what will happen if Nissan's minicars sell, but Nissan only handles 3,000 units of one model per month. Please have more confidence, everyone." (Chairman Osamu Suzuki, now President and Chairman)
"I'll let you know in advance. I'll listen to everyone's opinions, but no matter what you say, it doesn't matter. It's already been decided."
Daihatsu was cool about it. In fact, Ina was scheduled to come to remove background image Tokyo in the afternoon and meet with Toyota's outgoing executive vice president, Yoichiro Ichimaru, at Toyota's Tokyo headquarters at 5 p.m.
Of course, the 30 people knew that Toyota was moving to enter the minicar market. However, the position of the dealers was weak. The official explanation and report was only a formality at the end.
"60,000 units per year, or 5,000 units per month if we fix it. We won't sell any more than that, so don't worry." According to multiple sources, Daihatsu persuaded its dealers with this. The quantity to be supplied to Toyota is roughly one-tenth of Daihatsu's domestic sales.
However, there is a precedent where this number is expected to increase to over 60,000 units. In 2002, Suzuki began supplying minicars to Nissan, with which it has no capital ties. At the time, Suzuki had been telling dealers in a similar manner, saying, "You may be worried about what will happen if Nissan's minicars sell, but Nissan only handles 3,000 units of one model per month. Please have more confidence, everyone." (Chairman Osamu Suzuki, now President and Chairman)