GOYOKIKI
I just learned the Japanese word Goyokiki.
If you look it up, it says it means things like “the way we treat our customers” or more specifically how salesmen or tradesmen would go from place to place and from door to door to see what their clients needed.
This client-forward thinking is very clearly what the people at Toyota Motor Philippines have as kind of a working principle. When Masando Hashimoto, President of Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation, talked about how they were bringing this new commercial workhorse out to those that need it or can use it, he and everyone else stressed that they talked to people. They asked questions. They learned.
We hear the voice of the consumers, they said. The consumer will define what they produce.
So that explained the many different models of the Tamaraw that were gathering attention at the different malls that were used as launching points for this first introduction to the general public.
But things went further. The products they work extremely hard at, but what else can they do? What will this allow? How will they help people?
The s, just like the animals themselves, will be force multipliers. By making access to these workhorse vehicles more easy and the vehicles themselves more flexible, Toyota wants to provide the right product for the right environment for the right people. And if this sounds familiar, it is because they have always said that. And because the words are almost ironic now that a lot of the automotive world is realizing that, guess what, electric isn’t for everyone. Here as well, the right product and so on.
So they have the product, and they are trying to streamline and simplify the process of getting one. These vehicles are meant to help small and medium size businesses and startups, and often such help is out of the reach of those just starting up or who have no credit history. So the financial arms of the company will rethink what they do, specifically with the aim of making things easier not just to start with but also to continue with. Lower down payments but also more reasonable interest systems and the like.
They also see what they are doing as a springboard. They will be providing vehicles tailored to-made for certain use cases, but they are also fully aware that their bare vehicles will become platforms on which others can build. The vehicle meant to support small business growth in general will also be providing support for small businesses that can customize the vehicles themselves.
Executive Vice President Jing Atienza explained that they are happy to see more opportunities that will invite more entrepreneurial operations. “A lot will depend on the imagination of the customers” he said “and we want to support every step.”
They approached their customers to find out how they used their vehicles, and how they wanted to transform their businesses. And they used that information to help plan how they would help them.
“We know it will be big” they said.
The goal, clearly, isn’t just getting someone to sign on the dotted line or make the first payment or take delivery of a new truck. Again and again, Toyota seems to tell us that their vehicles are just that. Vehicles. But not just of transportation, of change and of growth.
And yes, they would like to have a people-mover Tamaraw FX too.
