May 12, 2006 3 min read

DETROIT (AP) – The new head of Toyota Motor Corp.’s North American operations, whose predecessor resigned over a sexual harassment suit, told a women’s business association on Thursday that the company will emerge stronger from the scandal because it has prompted it to examine its practices. Jim Press, previously president of Toyota Motor Sales USA, was named president and chief executive of Toyota Motor North America on Tuesday. Press was to take over in June, but the timetable was moved up when Hideaki Otaka resigned over the allegations.

During a previously scheduled luncheon sponsored by Inforum, a women’s business association in Detroit, Press said he could not comment directly on the lawsuit, in which Toyota also is a defendant.

“We are going to make sure that this is a learning process,” he said. “No matter if something happened or not, when we finish our investigation, we’ll take the right steps. But regardless of that, just because of the allegations, our company’s gonna get stronger, and we’re gonna make sure that nobody in our work place ever feels uncomfortable.”

Press commended Otaka for leaving so that the allegations would not be a distraction.

Otaka was accused in a $190 million sexual harassment lawsuit filed last week in New York. Sayaka Kobayashi accused him of harassing her when she worked as his personal assistant, making repeated unwanted sexual advances after she began working for him last summer. She said the conduct continued until winter, when she was involuntarily transferred out of the job.

Press is the first American to head the regional operations of the world’s No. 2 automaker. He said his appointment is indicative of the increased autonomy of Toyota’s North American branch.

“The decisions we’re making in terms of investments and product development and mix in our plants are all much more being fueled from here as opposed to being in Japan,” he told reporters following his address.

In his speech, Press alluded to recent difficulties of the biggest U.S. automakers, General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., which are both in the middle of major restructurings. On Monday, GM revised its first-quarter earnings to report a gain of $445 million, its first quarterly profit since 2004. Ford lost $1.2 billion in the first quarter, compared with a profit of $1.2 billion in the same period last year.

“I believe that GM and Ford will both come back stronger than ever and will be very successful in the world market,” he said. “And that’s important because they’re vital to our industry, they’re vital to this area, and they’re vital to the national economy.”

Press said the Detroit region would also “stage a major comeback” and remain the industry’s center. Toyota, which has a technical center in Ann Arbor, is due to start construction this year on a second, $150 million campus in Washtenaw County’s York Township.

“Our goal is to make the Detroit area our North American hub for research, development and engineering,” Press said.

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On the Net:

Toyota Motor Corp.: http://www.toyota.com

AP-ES-05-11-06 1558EDT