Japan’s supply chain predicament

In a rare admission for the world’s largest carmaker and Japan’s most powerful company, Toyota’s chief executive Koji Sato admitted last week that there were “limitations” to its ability to provide support to its truck subsidiary Hino Motors.

On the same stage in Tokyo, Martin Daum, the head of Daimler Truck, issued a similarly grim warning that the merger of the two groups’ truck units in Japan was essential for survival in…