Toyota to Appoint New 53-Year-Old President

Nagoya, Jan. 26 (Jiji Press)--Toyota Motor Corp. <7203> said Thursday it will appoint Koji Sato, 53, currently chief branding officer, as its new president and CEO, effective April 1.

Incumbent President and CEO Akio Toyoda, 66, will step aside to the post of chairman of the board of directors, while maintaining the right to represent the leading Japanese automaker.

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.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]