It’s not often that automotive executives give their nod of approval for rival products. In this case however, it was more of a thumbs up of approval. So, who’s the head honcho who recently tried out one of its rival’s products? That would be Akio Toyoda.
If you head on over to Twitter (now called X because, um, Elon Musk) and visit Toyota Japan’s page, you’ll see a short clip of Morizo himself behind the wheel of a Honda HR-V, known as the Vezel in Japan. If you want to be more specific, it's the e:HEV (hybrid) version of the small crossover. We don’t exactly know the context here, but we’re assuming the man likes it judging by the smile on his face.
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Given our limited grasp of the Japanese language, we don’t know what the cameraperson asked Toyoda-san, but at least we understood something when he said ‘Honda-desu!’. His thumbs up gesture after saying that implies approval...maybe.
Curiously, there was passenger with him, and rally fans of a certain age know who it is. It was none other than four-time World Rally Championship driver, Juha Kankkunen. Kankkunen was crowned the sport’s champion in 1986, 1987, 1991, and 1993 with Peugeot, Lancia, and of course, Toyota.
Either way, it’s an amusing sight. Toyota’s press department even put Honda’s slogan ‘The Power of Dreams’ at the end of the video as a friendly touch. That said, Toyoda-san is a car guy through and through, and it could be said that he has respect for all kinds of cars, even those that don’t bear his family’s namesake.
In the spirit of friendly competition, we’d like to see Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe make a response video. We’d suggest him hopping in a Toyota Yaris Cross and giving the thumbs up, too. Or we can kick things up a notch by letting Toyoda and Mibe drive each other’s hot hatchbacks, the GR Corolla and Civic Type R.
Now that would make a heck of a video.
