Middle managers at Toyota Motor have a new plan to revive sales and morale at the flagging car company: between now and March, some 2,200 of them will be exhorted to buy a new vehicle.
Organisers of Toyota's bucho no kai – a semi-formal fraternity of general managers, the highest non-executive rank in the company – devised the plan in response to a projected 15 per cent drop in sales volume in the current business year. Although technically voluntary, members said most of the group was likely to comply.
The show of solidarity in the face of hard times – the same managers had already seen their 2008 year-end bonuses cut by 10 per cent – comes as Toyota prepares to name a scion of the founding Toyoda family as its next chief executive.
Analysts said the selection of Akio Toyoda, 52, seemed designed in part to evoke traditional Toyota values such as sacrifice and kaizen – constant improvement – during a period of painful change.
参考译文：
丰田汽车(Toyota Motor)中层经理人员为振兴衰退中的汽车销售和士气，提出一项新的计划：从现在开始到三月份，将建议中层经理人员大约2,200人购买新车。
这一方案由丰田总经理级干部的半正式互助会的组织者设计(在日本公司中，总经理级干部为中层经理)，以应对本商业年度预期15%的销售额下跌。虽然严格地讲，买车自愿，但会员们说，他们大多数很可能服从这个建议。
在困难时刻，经理们显示团结的同时(这些经理们在2008年底的奖金已被消减10%)，丰田公司准备任命丰田家族的一名后人担任首席执行官。
分析家指出，选择52岁的Akio Toyoda，看来是要在痛苦的转变时期，在某种程度上唤起丰田的传统价值，如牺牲精神和进取精神。
（转载）
