o his company's booming success that is in stark contrast to the woes facing American rivals. In recent months, U.S. lawmakers from manufacturing states have charged that the Japanese government has kept the yen artificially low, giving Japanese automakers an advantage, and that just under half of the vehicles that Toyota sells in the U.S. are imported.
While American consumer attitudes are generally accepting of Toyota and other Japanese manufacturers as they have expanded production in the U.S., fears of a backlash are emerging as Toyota is on pace to overtake General Motors Corp. as the world's No. 1 vehicle maker.
"We are certainly concerned," said Toyota Senior Adviser Hiroshi Okuda, credited with successfully leading the Japanese automaker to global growth during his tenure as president and then chairman from 1995 to 2006.
Okuda said Toyota needs to "significantly" increase the number of foreigners in its 25-member board, now at zero, and boost foreign ownership of the company from about 20 percent today, to win greater acceptance as a global company. He did not give specific targets. Okuda denied Toyota was making the No. 1 spot a goal, and said it was merely trying to satisfy customers.
"We have just being doing our job naturally, and the numbers merely came about as a result," he said at an award ceremony at the American Chamber of Commerce.
The organization chose Okuda as the 2006 "Person of the Year" for contributing to U.S.-Japan relations, creating thousands of jobs in the U.S. and investing aggressively in the U.S.
Toyota has been boosting market share in the U.S. to more than 15 percent, riding on the success of its cars such as best-sellers Camry, widely seen as reliable and fuel-efficient. But GM, Ford Motor Co. and the Chrysler unit of DaimlerChrysler AG, are faltering.
