Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda Steps Aside, Which May Accelerate the Company's EV Rollout

Akio Toyoda, the president and CEO of the Toyota Motor Corporation, will step down on April 1 and become the chairman of the board of directors.He will be replaced by Koji Sato, current president of both the Lexus brand and Gazoo Racing, Toyota’s motorsports and performance car division. Under Toyoda, the automaker has remained committed to hybrids and slow to adopt EVs, but that may change under new, younger leadership.

Akio Toyoda, the president and CEO of the Toyota Motor Corporation, will relinquish his position as head of the Japanese automaker on April 1, the company announced today. Toyoda, 66, will become the chairman of the board of directors, with current chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada retiring, although he will remain a member of the board. Toyoda is the grandson of the company’s founder, Kiichiro Toyoda, and has been the CEO since 2009.

He will be succeeded by Koji Sato, currently the president of both the Lexus brand and Gazoo Racing, Toyota’s motorsports division that has also developed the brand’s road-going high-performance cars including the GR Supra and GR Corolla. Sato, 53, started in this role in 2020.

Toyota’s only full EV, the bZ4X.

The announcement could signal a strategic change in Toyota’s approach to electric vehicles. Although the company pioneered hybrids with the Prius, under Toyoda’s reign the automaker has been reluctant to commit to a transition to a fully electric lineup, citing concerns over the abundance of the raw materials that such a move would require.

The launch of Toyota’s first dedicated EV, the bZ4X, also went poorly, with a recall and stop-sale last year for faulty wheel hub bolts. Although the electric crossover has recently been relaunched, the automaker has low sales expectations.

But with Toyoda stepping aside, the brand’s priorities may shift. “Because of my strong passion for cars, I am an old-fashioned person in regards to digitalisation, electric vehicles, and connected cars,” Toyoda said, as reported by The Financial Times. “I cannot go beyond being a car guy, and that is my limitation.”

He acknowledged that the new personnel will be able to shift the direction of the company, explaining that he needs “to take a step back in order to let young people enter the new chapter of what the future of mobility should be like.”

In 2021, the company showed off a series of potential future EVs it was mulling over and announced a $35 billion investment in electric vehicles, and Sato’s appointment could see many of those concepts reach production with an influx in funding dedicated to electrification. However, the “car guy” spirit of Toyoda which helped bring the brand to the forefront of affordable performance cars over the past several years could be preserved thanks to Sato’s Gazoo Racing ties.

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