When Toyota Motor Corporation president Akio Toyoda made a \"casual visit\" to Manila last week, we didn\'t get much info on his itinerary other than a \"short meet-and-greet\" with Toyota Motor Philippines chairman George S.K. Ty. Well, we just learned another thing that he did during his Philippine stopover: He gave away \"I Love Cars\" stickers.
Yes, the big boss of Japan\'s No. 1 car company distributed cute stickers featuring a caricature of himself identified by his blog handle \"Morizo.\" He got the nickname from the mascot of the 2005 World Expo, whose likeness reportedly bore a resemblance to Toyoda. The executive has since used the moniker as his blogging pseudonym.
Toyoda has made waves in recent years by challenging his engineers to come out with cars that people will actually love. The Japanese auto industry has lamented the steadily decreasing interest in cars and driving among its country\'s youth. They even coined a term for this so-called motoring apathy: kuruma banare. A direct outcome of Toyoda\'s challenge is the Toyota 86.
Well, it seems Akio Toyoda\'s mission to revive automotive passion isn\'t confined within his company\'s R&D offices. It now looks as if he\'s doing it one sticker at a time.
