It’s a big deal in the car industry when a new model is introduced. Everybody is excited about the appearance changes, the obvious engineering and comfort improvements, plus the renewed dedication to the brand. But all those features barely mattered when the new 2012 Toyota Camry was unveiled in Kentucky this week.

In what has becomes a warm personal experience for me, when Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda drove the first bright-red Camry off the assembly line in Georgetown on Tuesday, it heralded the rebirth of a global giant. The vicious recall of last year is over. The company has also endured a heart-wrenching tsunami that hit Japan in mid-March but just this week Toyota resumed the bounce of a heavyweight world champion.

I can remember first taking up for Mr. Toyoda in February of last year when the top-selling automotive company was harpooned by a relentless bashing after a massive recall of its vehicles. I wrote him an open letter, thanking him for employing over 250,000 Americans, and for his major role in our nation’s economy and well-being.

But the media frenzy grew worse, with union-backed politicians calling both Mr. Toyoda and Toyota-U.S. president Yoshimi Inaba before quite callous Senate hearings. Congressman and Senators alike who rely on heavy union donations scalded the Japanese and wouldn’t relent until a tearful Mr. Toyoda was publicly ridiculed and openly apologized to the American people.

That very day he pledged a rebirth for the global giant. The union had hoped the attack would weaken the foreign manufacturer’s stance but, instead, it united the various assembly plants with the 2,400 dealer network in the United States. In Kentucky, for example, the head of the huge Georgetown plant showed up at Richmond’s Toyota South unannounced and, after mopping floors one morning at 7 a.m., personally answered every recall customer himself.

Say what you will but out of 3,100 customers who responded to the recall at Capital Toyota in Chattanooga, not one issue was found. The same held true all across the country and, about a year later, the Federal Government admitted there were few if any actual defects in the millions of recalls over accelerator linkage or other claims.

Even so, “it was an absolutely terrible experience,” Toyota USAS president Inaba told me this week. Mr. Inaba, in Kentucky for the unveiling of the new Camry, said the company’s second devastating blow came in mid-March when a tsunami paralyzed northeastern Japan.

“So many of our suppliers were affected and again our hearts were torn,” said the gentle but dynamic Inaba. “We were able to regain full production much faster than we thought due to the overwhelming spirit we have discovered. Our U.S. dealers should have good inventories by the end of September and will have many more 2012 vehicles on the way.”

“Through this difficult time we have found so much to be thankful for,” he said quietly, “but the way all of our employees have embraced one another and worked towards being the best is what I find reflected in the new Camry. This is a car that we have built together. This is very symbolic for Toyota.”

The 2012 models will begin to be delivered in late September and what is unusual about the Camry is that it has already been the most popular car sold in the U.S. for the past 10 year. “This is our bench mark, our showpiece. To offer it with so many refinements, so many improvements, reflects on every Toyota employee,” said the proud yet humble Inaba.

Curiously, I would have suspected his words were scripted except for the fact I accompanied the Toyota leader as he interviewed mechanics, salesmen, and service writers at Toyota South on Monday. His warmth, his intent listening and his vow to correct any problem was inspiring.

“These people are the Toyota company,” he smiled. “The new Camry is an answer to our pledge to them. We have a whole new outlook towards excellence. We have a new standard in our hope to provide the best automobile in the world. Next year the new Toyota Avalon will become the first car that has ever been designed in North America.

"Could it be that our hardships make the Camry’s debut more special than in the past? I believe that new Camry represents the fact we have done everything we can possibly to overcome what has happened,” said Mr. Inaba. “This is a great day in the history of Toyota.”

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