Boss of Lexus and Gazoo Racing, Koji Sato, to take the reins of world’s biggest car-maker
In a shock shift of power at the world’s biggest car-maker, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda has stepped down from the role after 14 years.
Toyoda, 66, will now become chairman of Toyota’s board of directors, replacing the retiring Takeshi Uchiyamada.
The incoming president and CEO of Toyota is 53-year-old Koji Sato, who is currently head of Gazoo Racing and Lexus.
“I love making cars,” said Sato in a statement.
“For that reason, I want to be a president who continues to make cars.
“I would like to show what kind of company Toyota should be through our cars. That’s what I want to do – cars that are fun to drive and cars that support mobility.
“And cars in the future will evolve into the concept of mobility itself. Amid such, I hope to preserve the essential value of the car and propose new forms of mobility.”
Toyoda’s tenure at the top of Toyota was marked by continuing solidity, albeit plagued with difficulty.
Taking charge in 2009 in the wake of the global financial crisis, Toyoda also had to manage huge recall issues, the aftermath of the Fukushima earthquake and the COVID-19 period.
“This has been a rocky path requiring tremendous amounts of time to bear fruit, and one not understood or appreciated by those who focus on the short term,” said Toyoda.
In the past couple of years, however, supply chain issues and Toyota’s slow take-up of electric cars have impacted the company.
The car-maker shed almost a million production slots in 2022 alone, which has led to long waiting lists for customers worldwide.
Toyoda was also forced to repeatedly defend Toyota’s approach to EVs over the past 12 months, pointing to the company’s dominance in hybrid cars and its positive impact on carbon dioxide emissions globally.
Over the years, the enigmatic Toyoda-san promoted himself as a leader that would bring the fun back to the Toyota brand, whose success is steeped in building relatively simple, conservatively designed vehicles that set the standard for profit in the industry.
He was also the founding force behind the Gazoo brand in the early part of the century, which started life as an early online sales portal for second-hand cars – and which also happened to run its own race team, which allowed him to follow his passion of car racing.
“I thought that the best way to further Toyota’s transformation would be for me to become chairman in support of a new president, and this led to today’s decision,” Toyoda said in a company livestream.
“I am a car-maker, through and through. I believe that’s how I have successfully transformed Toyota. However, a car-maker is all that I am. And I see that as my own limit.
“The new team under upcoming president Sato has a mission to transform Toyota into a mobility company.”
The changes will come into effect from April 1 this year.
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Keyword: Akio Toyoda steps down as Toyota CEO