Akio Toyoda Steps Down as Toyota CEO
Photo: Toyota
Akio Toyoda, 66, will step down from his role as president and CEO of the Toyota Motor Corporation on April 1. He will become the company’s chairman of the board of directors. He will be replaced by Lexus chief Koji Sato, who has also been heading the company’s Gazoo Racing motorsport division since 2020.
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Toyoda’s period as CEO was marked by challenges. “When I look back on my last 13 years as president, there was never a day that was peaceful,” he said during a Thursday press conference in Japan, adding that he often did not feel welcome as president and struggled with criticism of his leadership.
Prior to becoming CEO, Toyoda had been groomed for decades to become the company head, but always had a preference for racing over business. He spent a decade training to race cars and forming the Morizo alter ego. When he took the CEO position in 2009, he stated a preference for working “with the factory guys on the assembly floor” rather than “being in a supervisory position, sitting in an office.”
Throughout the 2010s, Toyoda successfully revitalized the company as an automaker to be taken seriously in the performance sector. He oversaw the return of the Supra, the launch of the sporty GR Corolla, and Toyota’s first win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. But over the past few years, Toyoda has been under fire for his electrification strategy.
The Japanese automaker has been slow to invest in battery-electric vehicles, preferring instead to adopt a controversial multi-pronged approach to carbon neutrality with a focus on hydrogen fuel cell technology. It lobbied against stricter emissions standards and its first dedicated EV, the bZ4X, had a poor launch and low sales.
Toyoda seems aware of these shortcomings and that it’s time for someone new to take the helm and steer the company in a different direction. “Because of my strong passion for cars, I am an old-fashioned person in regards to digitalisation, electric vehicles, and connected cars,” he said, according to The Financial Times. “I cannot go beyond being a car guy, and that is my limitation.”
Kurt Verlin was born in France and lives in the United States. Throughout his life he was always told French was the language of romance, but it was English he fell in love with. He likes cats, music, cars, 30 Rock, Formula 1, and pretending to be a race car driver in simulators; but most of all, he just likes to write about it all. See more articles by Kurt.