Toyota to replace Akio Toyoda as president and CEO

Sato, 53, would also become operating officer when the changes to its executive structure take effect on April 1.

53? Average CEO in Japan is 61 so what's wrong here?

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/China-s-young-job-hopping-CEOs-contrast-with-Japan-s-older-execs

Toyoda, 66, is the grandson of company founder Kiichiro Toyoda. His father Shoichiro Toyoda also led Toyota, in the 1980s and '90s. Nepotism, and to claim youth at 66 . Oh my god.

The company pioneered hybrid cars, but some critics say it has been slow to make the shift to battery-powered engines even as demand soars for low-emission automobiles.

isn’t this the guy who said Toyota has no interest in electric vehicles? No surprise then.

haaaa,

Toyota BZ4X wheels flying off. Japanese "quality" is a myth.

Make an electric 4 wheel drive k-kei line and offer it in Japan, Europe and other parts of Asia and profit more than your wildest dreams.

Nepotism, and to claim youth at 66 . Oh my god.

If you knew anything about Akio Toyoda, you would not say "nepotism". In the auto world, they guy is a legend.

Akio is one of the most knowledgable, focused, car-loving people around who didn't just climb the ranks like anyone else, but did so by personally creating their renowned Gazoo Racing Team as a race driver himself, and he developed the team from zero up to now being top-ranked performers despite his father (and the rest of Toyota) shunning his efforts.

Actually, at first he had team work in secret so as not to get shut down by the head office, using discontinued models nobody cared about, creating the name "Gazoo" to fly under the radar, and driving in races himself (including the 24hr Nurgurgring) under a fake name so he wouldn't get caught.

But Toyota eventually realized how important and effective the race engineering was for innovation, and they now uses Gazoo racing team as the main testing platform for their standard vehicle development.

"He has youth..."

At age 66??? Has youth been redefined?

When you are # 1 any thing you do or say is the act or word of a Profit. Toyota has done way beyond anyone wildest dreams and continues to do so, Opening factories and assembly lines in many places around the world and helping others benefit and make a living is a NOBIL thing, while the rest of the world is fighting for an Ideology, Land or Greed.

Good Luck.

"He has youth..."

At age 66??? Has youth been redefined?

This is referring to Sato, though I'd argue the same point can be made about 53.

Toyoda, 66, is the grandson of company founder Kiichiro Toyoda. His father Shoichiro Toyoda also led Toyota, in the 1980s and '90s. Nepotism, and to claim youth at 66 . Oh my god.

Nepotism? When the family builds a corporation and takes it public, they still have the right to lead said company unless the shareholders vote differently.

Sounds to me like someone is jealous that their name isnt Toyoda!

the most indebted company in japan. CEO of debts.

I was surprised at the resignation of the president of a large company that represents Japan, but I hope that the company will continue to support Japan in the future.

I saw this news first thing in the morning!

Now, Sato became th most watched president in Japan.

divinda - But Toyota eventually realized how important and effective the race engineering was for innovation, and they now uses Gazoo racing team as the main testing platform for their standard vehicle development.

I think they realized it was even more important to use Gazoo as a marketing tool, just like AMG, M, RS, NIsmo, etc are to MB, BMW, Audi, NIssan, etc

As a side note - Gazoo is also the name of the little green alien creature in the US cartoon series, The Flintstones, as well as sounding like the word "kazoo", and just somewhat silly-sounding to the Western ear in general. I'm surprised they didn't come up with a different name to appeal to one of their largest markets.

Having had to buy the expensive RAV4 Edge recently to get AWD, maybe Toyota could consider offering AWD as an option on some of the cheaper variants, and indeed on smaller models too. It gives even more safe handling in the wet, and especially in the snow.

hungryToday  10:24 am JST

I was surprised at the resignation of the president of a large company that represents Japan, but I hope that the company will continue to support Japan in the future.

I was wondering if Toyota's role in sponsoring the 2021 Tokyo Olympics had anything to do with it. Those Games left a lot of bad repercussions in Japan - leading to Abe's stepping down.

MarkToday  08:52 am JST

When you are # 1 any thing you do or say is the act or word of a Profit. Toyota has done way beyond anyone wildest dreams and continues to do so, Opening factories and assembly lines in many places around the world and helping others benefit and make a living is a NOBIL thing, while the rest of the world is fighting for an Ideology, Land or Greed.

Good Luck.

Maybe Koji Sato will turn things around for Toyota. One can hope.

'You asked for it, you got it!'

'Ohhhhhh, what a feeling to drive!'.

This is merely my hypothesis.

Toyoda cannot deal with the unreasonable demands of the gurobarists to make only electric cars in the midst of a reduction of global energy. He also couldn’t deal with the requirement to install kill switches to electric cars that would enable the gurobarists to restrict movement and control. Similarly, they develop 15-minute cities now implemented in 7 major cities of the world. You can go beyond your 15 minutes radius twice a week and get penalized if you do more than that.

Tony W. - Having had to buy the expensive RAV4 Edge recently to get AWD, maybe Toyota could consider offering AWD as an option on some of the cheaper variants, and indeed on smaller models too. It gives even more safe handling in the wet, and especially in the snow.

I don't know where you live. But, in Japan, many low-priced vehicles are available in 4WD/AWD.

Toyota's Corolla Cross and Yaris Cross are both available in a very affordable Hybrid E-four version, which not only provides additional traction, but excellent fuel economy, as well.

Most Mazda models are available as 4WD, including the extremely affordable Mazda2. Honda, too, including the low-priced Fit. Nissan's affordable Note, too.

Of course, Suburu, known in the West for it's 4WD-only models, offers booth FWD and 4WD versions, here.

Toyota BZ4X wheels flying off. Japanese "quality" is a myth.

BZ4's are technically Subarus. Big mistake by Toyota to collaborate with them.

Jay - BZ4's are technically Subarus. Big mistake by Toyota to collaborate with them.

The Toyota bZ4X and Suburu Solterra are *both manufactured by Toyota*** **at Toyota's Aichi plant. So, they're technically Toyotas.

But, yes, they were jointly developed by both Toyota and Suburu.

I personally thank him and his family for making better cars. With out Toyota, Honda etc we would still be forced to buy crappy detroit, German etc cars that get terrible mileage, were unsafe and broke ALL THE TIME.

I've owned 4 toyota's driven them a lot just taken good care of them and they have taken good care of me.

@Jim Dandy

The victims of Japanese exploding airbags and their families would strongly disagree.

If you knew anything about Akio Toyoda, you would not say "nepotism". In the auto world, they guy is a legend.

Akio is one of the most knowledgable, focused, car-loving people around who didn't just climb the ranks like anyone else, but did so by personally creating their renowned Gazoo Racing Team as a race driver himself, and he developed the team from zero up to now being top-ranked performers despite his father (and the rest of Toyota) shunning his efforts. 

Actually, at first he had team work in secret so as not to get shut down by the head office, using discontinued models nobody cared about, creating the name "Gazoo" to fly under the radar, and driving in races himself (including the 24hr Nurgurgring) under a fake name so he wouldn't get caught.

But Toyota eventually realized how important and effective the race engineering was for innovation, and they now uses Gazoo racing team as the main testing platform for their standard vehicle development.

I learnt more from this comment than the article itself. Keep an open mind people.

Btw .. My take is new guy is merely fall guy for upcoming failures. To publicly acknowledge market share degradation. Then Akio will re-join & share go ka-boom.