Why Toyota’s Bob Carter, ‘passionate’ seller champion, is retiring

At a private stage, Carter’s timing is comprehensible. He mentioned he and Jane predict their first grandchild in November, and earlier than that, they plan to go off to Bora Bora and the Galapagos Islands. In addition they plan to spend this summer season touring throughout Canada. “We have got a fairly packed schedule over the subsequent 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 de facto about solely two issues: It is about product, and it is about folks. And an enormous a part of my life has been the seller group and the retail group.”

Jim Lentz, whom Carter succeeded, instructed 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 material of Toyota, and his philosophy of ‘folks and merchandise first’ stays as evergreen right this moment as when he began within the enterprise. I shall be perpetually grateful for his function as a change agent, his dedication to the corporate and his assist to assist form the way forward for Toyota and the business.”

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 got 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 folks 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 of us have already got 20 or 25 years in with the corporate.”