TOYOTA CEO AND PRESIDENT STEPS DOWN

Toyota Motor’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Akio Toyoda, will step down from his post on April 1, to be succeeded by current Chief Branding Officer Koji Sato who has been heading the Toyota Lexus division and the GAZOO racing company since 2020

Toyoda will become the new chairman of the board, while the current Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada will continue as a member of the board.

“I thought the best way to further Toyota’s transformation would be for me to become chairman in support of a new president, and this has led to today’s decision. Chairman Uchiyamada has long supported me in all imaginable ways,” Toyoda said in a translated webcast.

Sato on Thursday acknowledged Toyota must continue its green efforts energy security, for example, that is a big challenge that the whole planet needs to face. And also that the endeavor towards carbon neutrality will be one example of what we have to work on.

“Cars in the future will evolve in the concept of mobility itself. Amid such, hope to preserve the essential value of the car and propose new forms of mobility,” Sato said, adding that this represented the mission of the new leadership team.

A pioneer of green automobiles in 1997 with the introduction of its hybrid Prius, the company has increasingly fended off criticism over the pace at which it has pursued fully-electric vehicles, playing catch-up to newcomers such as Tesla.