Is there a danger you’re perceived to be old guard?
KR: These companies are the ones that are going to survive when many of the upstarts are long gone and have disappeared. If you’re in the car business I can’t think of anybody you’d rather be with than Toyota. These guys are very fast and very innovative. The Toyota iQ is probably one of the funkiest cars around and if you look at the Prius, they’re way ahead. In my view they’re leading the world in technology and sustainability and we’re part of that. SS: You’ve used the word catastrophe to describe the present economic environment. KR: Absolutely right, I think it is a catastrophe. We’re facing, obviously, a financial crisis that’s leading to a confidence crisis in every nation in the world both politically and economically. And there’s a social disaster just around the corner because 50 million people are unemployed in the world. In that kind of environment it’s about winning ugly, winning like Federer against Roddick. It is about focussing on what’s core, making tough calls, being
