TOYOTA CITY, Japan (The WSJ) -- Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda met Friday with the company's employees in Japan for the first time since widespread quality concerns led to the recall of millions of vehicles worldwide in recent months.

“We should be able to overcome these challenges by working together,” Mr. Toyoda told a meeting of about 2,000 managers at company headquarters in Toyota City in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan. The meeting was viewed by about 7,000 other workers on monitors at their factories and offices.
The remarks were aimed at boosting employee morale at a time when Toyota's reputation for quality has been badly tarnished by the recall and the company has been criticized for its slow response to safety concerns.
The meeting was also open to several media organizations in an effort to show how the company aims to win customers back.
“It is important now to reassure (customers) that Toyota vehicles are safe,” Mr. Toyoda said.
The meeting followed Mr. Toyoda's visits to the company's facilities in the U.S. and China.
In the U.S., Toyoda met dealers and workers after testifying at a congressional hearing there last week. In China this week, he held a press briefing and met Minister of Commerce Chen Deming.
The company's employees invited Mr. Toyoda and other four executives who had attended the U.S. congressional hearing—including Yoshimi Inaba, chief of Toyota's North America operations, and Jim Lentz, president of U.S. sales—to the meeting. Representatives of Toyota dealers and suppliers were also invited.
During his speech, Mr. Toyoda, grandson of the company's founder, seemed to choke up briefly when he said he felt strong support from the company's employees during his visit to the U.S.
“I thought I needed to look after our employees, but I realized I was being looked after by them,” he said. Other executives also expressed their determination to confront the difficulties facing Toyota.
“The turnout of our members and our workers (at the hearings) strengthened all of us,” Mr. Lentz said, adding that more than one million vehicles have been repaired in the U.S. as part of the company's six million-vehicle recall
But Mr. Inaba said that the company hasn't yet completely dispelled concerns over the quality of its vehicles. “Staff in development, production and sales should all come together globally to make Toyota better and stronger,” he said.
Takeshi Uchiyamada, executive vice-president in charge of developing the first generation Prius, said the company will gather information from dealers, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and consumers in order to respond more quickly to any quality concerns.
After the meeting, Hideki Watanabe, a 51-year old Lexus engineer, told reporters that he felt confused when the quality issues occurred. “But now we know what we have to do, I'm not so worried,” he said.