Toyoto Becomes Number One Car Company

“Thank you so much for making Toyota number one,” the chairman of Toyota, Fujio Cho, said to Richard Wagoner, the CEO of General Motors, and leaned across the conference table to shake his hand.

“Think nothing of it,” Mr. Wagoner replied, obliging the Japanese exec. “The credit belongs entirely to you and your quality-obsessed company.” “No, no,” the Japanese CEO insisted. “We could never have done it without your reliable incompetence.” “On the contrary, sir,” the GM CEO replied, eyeing the other American and Japanese executives arrayed around the conference table, “the credit is entirely due to your astonishing competence.

After all, you and your company have figured out how to make cars people actually want to buy – form and function, attractively combined.”