Akio Toyoda, the 52-year-old grandson of Toyota’s founder will take control of the Japanese giant heading into some of the toughest times the company has ever endured.
Akio Toyoda, the current Toyota vice-president, driving force behind the Lexus LF-A supercar, and the IS-F super saloon, will become the next president and CEO of Toyota. The 52-year-old grandson of the founder of Toyota will take his place as company president by the middle of this year, succeeding the 66-year-old Katsuaki Watanabe, who has been in charge of Toyota for nearly four years.
Toyoda’s father, Shoichiro Toyoda, was Toyota president between 1982 and 1992 and has been grooming Akio over the years for his instalment at the highest post in the company.
Although he is a shrewd businessman, Toyoda also happens to be a spirited car enthusiast, counting stints behind the wheel during the Nürburging 24 hours and test driving the Lexus LF-A supercar at the Fuji Speedway among his exploits.
His appointment as Toyota’s CEO comes at one of the toughest times the company has ever endured. As Japan’s richest company, Toyota has enjoyed record-breaking sales for years on end, and recently set itself an ambitious goal of selling 10 million units in 2008. The recent global economic downturn has hampered these goals, with actual sales for 2008 coming in at just under 9 million units and a ¥150 billion (R16,8 billion) operating loss predicted for this business year.
Toyoda certainly has the experience to take over the reins at Toyota and will hopefully apply his passion for the aforementioned high-performance models to bolstering the company’s future fortunes.
