Akio Toyoda: From Passionate Racer to Embattled Toyota President

Feb. 25, 2010 — -- Going fast helps Akio Toyoda get to know cars.

An amateur racer, the embattled president of Toyota Motor Corp. once told reporters that he suits up for competitions like the 24-hour endurance contest in Nurburg, Germany because racing "has a lot to do with the development of cars."

But on his racing blog, the grandson of Toyota founder Kiichiro Toyoda -- who uses the pseudonym Morizo -- gets a little more personal.

"An escape from reality? A hobby? I, Morizo, know many things have been said about my racing. But I have simply loved cars since I was little," he wrote last July.

Wondering about the name change from Toyoda to Toyota? Click here.

Toyoda's intense love of the automobile -- his blog sometimes devolves into rambling posts on the beauty of cars -- thus far hasn't saved him from the hate coming his company's way as Toyota struggles to emerge from a cloud of recalls and fatal crashes blamed on defects in some of the brand's top models.

Americans "have grown up in an atmosphere that we had a great deal of faith in something that was stamped 'Made in Japan' -- that it was of the highest reliability," Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, D-Pa., said Wednesday at a congressional hearing on the Toyota recalls. "You've injured that thought process in the American public."

At an event later in the day at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Toyoda received a considerably warmer reception as he addressed U.S. Toyota executives, dealers and employees, who gave him a standing ovation.

Choking back tears, Toyoda thanked them for their support, saying "words don't express my gratitude."

At the congressional hearing hours earlier, the Japanese scion was more reserved as he reiterated apologies for the defects and the accidents they allegedy caused. The company, he said, grew too quickly.

"We pursued growth over the speed at which we were able to develop our people and our organization, and we should sincerely be mindful of that," he said. "I regret that this has resulted in the safety issues described in the recalls we face today, and I am deeply sorry for any accidents that Toyota drivers have experienced."

But Toyoda may have been apologizing for problems that weren't his fault, said Peter De Lorenzo, the author of "The United States of Toyota: How Detroit Squandered Its Legacy and Enabled Toyota to Become America's Car Company."