Southeast Toyota Distributors Inc

Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), a powerful ally of the U.S. auto industry, announced Wednesday that he will investigate Japanese auto maker Toyota on allegations that it skirted quotas on imported cars, coerced U.S. dealers and falsified sales and customer-satisfaction reports. Torrance-based Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. and Southeast Toyota Distributors Inc., a large Florida-based distributorship that is the focus of the charges, denied the allegations Wednesday.

Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), a powerful ally of the U.S. auto industry, announced Wednesday that he will investigate Japanese auto maker Toyota on allegations that it skirted quotas on imported cars, coerced U.S. dealers and falsified sales and customer-satisfaction reports. Torrance-based Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. and Southeast Toyota Distributors Inc., a large Florida-based distributorship that is the focus of the charges, denied the allegations Wednesday.

Greg Trojan has been appointed president of California Pizza Kitchen Inc., a new position. Trojan joined the Los Angeles-based restaurant company as executive vice president in May, 1994. He will continue to lead the executive team focusing on operations, marketing, finance, human resources and training. Prior to joining CPK, Trojan, 36, was general manager of Pizza Hut for Southern California.

Oh, what a feeling to advertise Toyota. Just ask executives at the Torrance agency Saatchi & Saatchi DFS/Pacific, which on Thursday won another $20-million chunk of Toyota business. Its newest client is Southeast Toyota Distributors Inc., of Deerfield Beach, Fla. The group is responsible for Toyota vehicles distributed in five Southern states. Saatchi's Los Angeles office will open branch offices in Ft. Lauderdale and Atlanta to service the new client.

Frederick R. Weisman, a millionaire Los Angeles art collector and bicoastal businessman, has taken up arms against Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., the Torrance-based subsidiary of Japan's largest auto maker, as it attempts to take over Weisman's billion-dollar auto distribution business. The battle was joined last month, when Toyota repeated its intention to buy Weisman's Mid-Atlantic Toyota Distributors Inc.