Toyota’s Bob Carter to retire as ‘passionate’ seller champion

At a private degree, Carter’s timing is comprehensible. He mentioned he and Jane expect their first grandchild in November, and earlier than that, they plan to move off to Bora Bora and the Galapagos Islands. In addition they plan to spend this summer season touring throughout Canada. “We have got a reasonably packed schedule over the following 4 months,” mentioned Carter, who will proceed to make his dwelling — and maintain his storage — in Texas.

“There’s a lot on this enterprise that has modified and advanced, and that is good, however there are plenty of key foundations that have not modified,” he mentioned. “This enterprise is actually about solely two issues: It is about product, and it is about individuals. And an enormous a part of my life has been the seller group and the retail group.”

Jim Lentz, whom Carter succeeded, advised Automotive Information: “Bob has been a staunch seller advocate, product and motorsports fanatic and a passionate chief for 41 years with Toyota. His legacy is completely etched into the cultural cloth of Toyota, and his philosophy of ‘individuals and merchandise first’ stays as evergreen as we speak as when he began within the enterprise. I will likely be endlessly grateful for his function as a change agent, his dedication to the corporate and his help to assist form the way forward for Toyota and the trade.”

Carter, who started his profession with Toyota as a guaranty processor close to his dwelling in western Pennsylvania, mentioned the “largest differentiator of our manufacturers is the connection we’ve with our sellers, and the service and the illustration they supply of their native communities is second to none.”

He can be able to know. Carter frequented Toyota and later Lexus dealerships. He predicted that the collaborative tradition that has constantly put the Toyota and Lexus manufacturers atop NADA’s Dealer Attitude Survey will proceed unabated, even because it evolves and is enhanced.

“The individuals behind me, they’ve all grown up on this group. They perceive the philosophy and the connection to retail,” mentioned Carter. “So I really feel actually good [about leaving now]. A few of these people have already got 20 or 25 years in with the corporate.”