The alarming rise of Chinese automakers has put traditional Japanese car brands on high alert, and Toyota Vice Chairman Koji Sato thinks he has found a way to fight back. He has proposed to standardize certain auto parts across competing automakers to cut costs, boost efficiency and spur innovation.

 

“Unless things change, we will not survive,” Sato said during Toyota’s annual supplier meeting in March, as Automotive News reported. He stopped short of naming Chinese automakers directly, framing the goal instead as improving Japanese automakers’ “international competitiveness.”