When it comes to car companies and their followers/ owners, there has been rivalry forever. Honda vs. Toyota and BMW vs. Mercedes are some commonly known and discussed examples. This rivalry is also among the people who work for these companies or represent them, which goes all the way to the top-level management. Normally, higher-level management of these companies also mostly use vehicles of the same brand they work for and obviously as company-maintained vehicles.
Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda
The current chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation, Akio Toyoda, is well respected among auto enthusiasts because of his love for racing. He raced at Nürburgring for the 24-hour competition multiple times and raced an exclusive one-off model of Toyota Century GRMN at the Fuji racetrack.
All this is not just for media attention because when he was CEO of Toyota, he also outlined restructuring of the company and developing an all-new GR/GRMN brand to bring performance and sporty character of Toyota vehicles as there was a perception of Toyota making BORING cars. Akio Toyoda was right and successful, and we have seen models like GR Corolla, GR Yaris, GR Land Cruiser, and more.
Toyota CEO and Honda HR-V
Akio participates in racing competitions and recently was doing a pre-race survey of the racetrack for the upcoming Rally Hokkaido in Japan. The chairman is planning to participate in the rally by driving a GR YARIS Rally-1, the vehicle that Toyota ran in the 2022 FIA WRC season.
Well, the interesting thing is that Akio was seen driving a Honda HR-V while on the survey mission of the raceway. In the short video clip, Toyota also shares on their social media with the camera guy asking Akio what car this is. He responds, “This is Honeq. ” The video ends with Honda’s famous brand slogan, “Power of Dreams”. The video with the chairman driving HR-V with a thumbs up was liked by followers for Akio Toyoda’s respect for competitors.
Rivalry is OK as it helps in improvements, but one should respect the opponents. I am sure Honda fans are happy seeing the video, but let’s see what Toyota’s fans have to say. Share in the comments.
Meanwhile, you can watch a detailed PakWheels review on Pakistan’s domestic model HR-V below;
