Toyota said Thursday it will promote Koji Sato, currently chief branding officer, as its new president and CEO, effective April 1.
Toyota announced a change to its executive structure on Thursday, appointing Operating Officer Koji Sato as the new president and CEO and Akio Toyoda as the new chairman after his 13 years of presidency.
Takeshi Uchiyamada will resign from his post as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Akio Toyoda will be appointed the new chairman and Koji Sato the new president and Chief Executive Officer, the automaker said in a statement.
Toyoda, a member of the company’s founding family, has served as president since June 2009, shortly after the company plunged into the red in the aftermath of the financial crisis triggered by the 2008 collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers.
After dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, Toyoda apparently aims to rejuvenate Toyota’s management, in order to respond to a new era, including the rapid shift to electric vehicles.
“To promote Toyota’s transformation further, I thought I should become chairman and support the new president,” Toyoda said in an online press conference.
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