英伦广角 2010-02-07 丰田前路漫漫

Fault recalls are quite common in the car industry. I think part of the problem is the scale of the problem we’ve been seeing , over 4million cars recall because of accelerator problems. Go back to September last year, another 4 million recall in the summer and January last year. So, we’re seeing both big scale and a number of recalls, and also let’s remember Toyota’s image, and its brand is built on ultra-reliabilty and quality, so of course consumers are going to, don’t you be saying, what on earth is going on?

Well,yes, it’s not just the problem of its image, but it actually has the problem of potential legal action where we’re talking about the US law firm tonight filing a mass class action acclaimed¹ against Toyota. How much would it probably mess up for the company?

Well, it's gonna be huge problems just in terms of managing it from the PR point of view. Toyota, So far, have put a figure on the recall of these cars about 2 billion dollars, if you start adding in legal costs, having to deal with the reputational damage, possible damage to their brand, then costs soon escalate². It’s no wonder that their share price is falling by over 20% since January 21st, knocking some 30 billion dollars of the value of the firm.

Toyota've argued they’ve acted quickly and decisively. What do you make of their response?

Well, they are certainly acting³ quickly in the United States, it took them some time to get to the UK to sort of rectify⁴ the accelerator issue. In terms of the most recent problems over the Prius, they had actually identified the problem I think with their software which they fix the new models. They haven’t said anything to the consumers, and that hadn't come out until the Japanese government actually launched a requested investigation⁵, I think there are some pretty mixed messages coming out of Toyota. I think in a sense there's a feeling that maybe they've taken their eye off the pool; they have expanded very quickly in recent years. They have huge capacity globally, over 10 billion cars, 10 billion cars a year, but aren’t producing anyway near that, they've been looking to cut costs through standardizing⁶ parts across their range. If something goes wrong, it exposes them to big risks.

Obviously drivers of Toyota's concerned workers of Toyota they have a factory in this country, of course in Darby; they must be worried as well.

Absolutely, oh let's recognize that this is nothing to do with Darby, that’s a very efficient, productive plant and very high quality. This was a design fault in the accelerator pedals of Toyota cars; it goes right back to Japan. And they've already fixed⁷ the problem in new cars at Darby, but they are obviously worried in the sense if it affects sales, and therefore their ability to produce cars. I do think in longer term they will be okay, but they've gotta get through this, they've gotta manage it in a very careful way, they have to reassure⁸ customers and I think somebody at top ultimately has to take responsibility for this.
 

1 acclaimed   

adj.受人欢迎的

参考例句：

• They acclaimed him as the best writer of the year. 他们称赞他为当年的最佳作者。
• Confuscius is acclaimed as a great thinker. 孔子被赞誉为伟大的思想家。

2 escalate   

v.(使)逐步增长(或发展)，(使)逐步升级

参考例句：

• It would tempt Israel's neighbors to escalate their demands.它将诱使以色列的邻国不断把他们的要求升级。
• Defeat could cause one side or other to escalate the conflict.失败可能会导致其中一方将冲突升级。

3 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

4 rectify   

v.订正，矫正，改正

参考例句：

• The matter will rectify itself in a few days.那件事过几天就会变好。
• You can rectify this fault if you insert a slash.插人一条斜线便可以纠正此错误。

5 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

6 standardizing   

使合乎规格，使标准化( standardize的现在分词 )； 规格化

参考例句：

• These composite indices are derived by standardizing each of its component series. 这些综合指数是使通过把它们的组成部分中的各个数列标准化而获得的。
• Significant progress was made in rectifying and standardizing nonbank financial institutions. 整顿和规范非银行金融机构取得重要进展。

7 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

8 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。