Shunji Yamauchi, general manager of Saudi Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) Office, has replaced Yukichi Goto, the previous general manager, who served in Jeddah for 14 years. Yamauchi has been living in Saudi Arabia for more than 10 years. The Office has been in continuous operation providing services and support to Saudi customers since 1985. Yamauchi was quoted on the occasion of the visit to Japan of the Saudi Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz, Defense Minister. He pointed out that the relations between Saudi Arabia and Japan are very close, and the visit of Crown Prince Salman to Japan is evidence that confirms the depth of the bonds of this relationship. Toyota's history in Saudi Arabia is also a deep relationship that extends back for more than half a century with the establishment of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Japan. He noted that Abdul Latif Jameel Company is one of 14 companies around the world (including Toyota owned companies) that has won the Excellence Award in after-sales service during the past three years. Yamauchi further said Toyota Office in Saudi Arabia has wide responsibilities to support the distributor mainly in after-sales service area and continuously evaluate their performance to ensure that TMC standards are maintained, including listening to customers directly. Toyota has pledged to continue to give Abdul Latif Jameel (ALJ) all the necessary support to make sure that the best possible service to customers is maintained. The chairman of Toyota also said recently that “ALJ is one of the best distributors in the world and is completely aligned with Toyota's focus to serve the Saudi customers with excellence.” ALJ has a call center in Saudi Arabia which handled more than 4 million calls and text messages over the last year. Yamauchi said “we believe that good customer care comes from an attitude where we respond to customers based on the facts from actual observation of concerned vehicle at site. ALJ is capable enough to follow this practice, and we of-course support them in further improve its capability. Our TMC office also is having full independent access to any complaint arriving at ALJ's call center and can contact any customer directly as the need arises.” – SG
