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The old boss Akio Toyoda (right) and his successor
Photo: KIM KYUNG-HOON / REUTERS
The world's largest carmaker Toyota gets a new boss.
The Japanese company surprisingly announced that the long-time head of the group and grandson of the company founder, Akio Toyoda, will hand over management to brand boss Koji Sato on April 1st.
The 53-year-old Sato will then be the head of the company and president at the same time, while the 66-year-old Toyoda will in turn become the head of the Toyota board of directors.
Just right
Toyoda has led the car company since 2009, when at 53 he was the youngest boss Toyota had ever had.
He is the grandson of company founder Kiichiro Toyoda.
His father Shoichiro Toyoda managed the car company in the 1980s and 1990s.
Sato, a graduate engineer, has been head of the Toyota brand since January 2021 and most recently also managed the business of the luxury brand Lexus.
The company praised the new boss's "youth", his love of cars and his dynamic immediate environment.
This makes him the right person in times when the future is uncertain.
At Toyota, too, the focus is on the transformation to electromobility.
In December 2021, the carmaker significantly increased its sales target and wants to be able to deliver 30 different purely battery-powered models by the end of the decade.
For this year, Toyota has announced the production target of a total of 10.6 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles - which would be higher than the figures of previous years.
But like other car manufacturers worldwide, the group is struggling with a shortage of semiconductors and other preliminary products.
Toyota has therefore already warned that production could also be ten percent lower.
mike/AFP