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Didier Leroy Named Toyota Europe Quality Officer

During an unscheduled visit to the European division of his company, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda announced the appointment of Didier Leroy as Chief Quality Officer for Europe. Leroy, who is executive vice president for Toyota Motor Europe, will take the role immediately and will try, as Toyoda said, to regain customer confidence.

"I have learned a lot from the quality problems we experienced," Toyoda said in Europe. "As you all know, ensuring our customers' safety is Toyota's highest priority. And we undertake severe quality control for that purpose."

The announcement comes weeks after the Japanese carmaker appointed former US Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater as the leader of the North American Quality Advisory Panel, an organization set up to address safety issues and concerns regarding Toyota vehicles.

The appointments are part of the worldwide effort to fight back the recall onslaught. Back in February, Akio Toyoda announced the establishment of a global quality task force that will conduct quality improvement activities region by region.

Toyoda also highlighted the goals of the new panels.

  • improve quality inspection process
  • enhance customer research
  • establish an “Automotive Center of Quality Excellence” in key regions
  • support from outside experts
  • increased communication
  • improve regional autonomy

 At the end of his visit to Europe, Toyoda expressed his thanks to the people working for the company.

"I hear from president Arashima that everyone is working long hours to cope with the recalls. People at our European dealers, at our national marketing and sales companies, at our European manufacturing companies, and at Toyota Motor Europe, I want to express my sincere thanks to everyone for the hard work."
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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