Akio Toyoda To Step Down As Toyota CEO; Take Over Role Of Chairman

Toyota has announced some top management changes for the company that will come into effect from April 1, 2023. Akio Toyoda will be stepping down from his role as the CEO of the Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) and taking over the role of the Chairman of the Board of Directors. Current Lexus and Gazoo Racing President, Koji Sato meanwhile will be elevated to become Toyota’s CEO.

Alongside being elevated to the role of company CEO, Sato will also join the Toyota Board of Directors. Toyoda meanwhile replaces Takeshi Uchiyamada as the board’s chairman though the latter will remain a member of Toyota’s board.

(L-R) Akio Toyota, Kijo Sato and Takeshi Uchiyamada.

Toyoda, the grandson of Toyota’s founder, joined the company in 1984 going on to head the company’s operations in China and Asia in the early to mid-2000s before being appointed president of TMC in 2009.

Toyoda’s successor, Sato has been a part of TMC since 1992. He rose through the ranks to become the chief engineer for Lexus International in 2016 before rising through the ranks to become executive vice president for Lexus in 2019 and taking over as the brand’s president in 2020. The same year also saw him appointed the president of Toyota’s motorsports and performance car division, the Gazoo Racing Company. In 2021 he also took over the role of chief branding officer.

In an address on Toyota Times News, Toyota’s in-house news channel, Toyoda said that the incoming management would be in charge of transforming Toyota into a ‘mobility company’. Incoming president Sato meanwhile added that the company would push the shift towards electrification from Toyota.