How Toyota became the most innovative car company in the world

On February 2007, the New York Times Magazine featured a great cover story on Toyota, which explained how the Japanese company has become the acknowledged leader in the global automobile industry.  At a time when Ford and GM are downsizing and rightsizing, the incredible Toyota engineering team continues to get things right. When we talk about productivity, efficiency and output, Toyota's team seems to be pulling up their sleeves and punching out the competition. Who holds the top spot in car sales?  Currently, the Toyota Camry and Corolla are the best-selling cars in America.  The article explains concepts like kaizen ("continuous improvement") and genchi genbutsu ("what customers want in a car or truck and how any current versions come up short"). Have some of the car companies become less customer oriented and lost focus on what's really important? The Asian carmakers have benefited from rising gas prices with rising sales in their smaller cars, as opposed to GM's and Ford's gas guzzlers. There goes the Hammers!!

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/magazine/18Toyota.t.html?ref=magazine