Lexus boss lands top job at Toyota
Toyota has announced chief executive Akio Toyoda is to step down as head of the company his grandfather founded, with the leader of its Lexus luxury brand stepping into the role.
Koji Sato, 53, chief branding officer and president of Lexus, will take on his new job from April 1 when Toyoda becomes chairman of the company. Representative director Takeshi Uchiyamada will drop his chairman title at that time.
The change comes as the Japanese carmaker grapples with the transition to electric vehicles (EV).
Toyoda, 66, led the company for more than a decade and said Sato’s mission will be to transform Toyota into a “mobility company”, without specifying what that would entail.
“The CEO needs youth, energy, strength,” Toyoda added at a press conference where he described himself as a “relic” of an older generation.
“We believe that the best way to advance Toyota’s transformation further is for me to support the new president as chairman.”
He said his time as chief executive of Toyota started in 2009 with “crisis after crisis” from the effects of a global recession, to Toyota's recalls and safety crisis to the disruptions that followed the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in northern Japan.
Toyoda explained Sato was chosen to replace him because he “worked hard” to learn Toyota's philosophy and technology.
Sato started his career at Toyota in 1992, before rising through the ranks to become chief engineer of Lexus International, a luxury auto brand of Toyota, in 2016, report Reuters.
He has held positions as the president of Lexus International and Gazoo Racing Company, Toyota’s motorsport brand, since 2020. Sato also took on an executive role at Toyota and became its chief branding officer in January 2021.
