Horses: Gift or Trojan?

In the eyes of some, Japanese automakers will stop at nothing in their efforts to win a larger share of the U.S. market. So when Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., donated 25 trucks to the County of Los Angeles as the first step in a nationwide program of gifts to nonprofit organizations to mark the company's 25th year, it provoked some unusual reactions. While no one wanted to appear to be giving aid and comfort to the archenemy of U.S. automakers by thanking the Japanese profusely, no one wanted to be accused of turning down 25 free trucks for the county, either.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn called the gift "generous," but took pains to add, "In no way does this mean that the agonies and frustrations of unemployed American autoworkers have gone away." A local labor union official complained that Toyota's gift "is another way that foreign companies, with their propaganda, are influencing the American people." He observed, however, that creative charity of this kind was "something the American industry neglected to do."

For its part, Toyota noted that the vehicles were donated in the same spirit in which the company made cash donations of at least $2 million to a variety of organizations during the past five years, including $1 million to the U.S. Olympic Committee in 1978. A Toyota spokesman, who estimated the value of the trucks at $280,000, commented ingenuously, "I think we generate a lot of community good will." This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.