The future boss of the world’s largest car manufacturer Toyota wants to align the Japanese group more in the direction of electromobility. “Electrification” is a key topic, said Koji Sato (53) during the presentation of his management team on Monday. By 2026, the Japanese automaker is set to develop an all-new next-generation electric vehicle, initially for its subsidiary Lexus, which is expected to play a leading role in the technology. Overall, the group will increase its entire range of electric vehicles, said Sato.
A new era begins at Toyota with Sato. The previous Chief Branding Officer was elected as the new CEO announced last month. The new leadership will take over on April 1st. Sato is to adapt the group more to the changed market conditions. In the electromobility segment in particular, the Japanese, who were a pioneer in hybrid vehicles with the globally successful Prius model, have so far been considered laggards.
So far, the market has been dominated by Tesla, as well as by European and increasingly Chinese manufacturers BYD dominates. Among the Japanese automakers is above all Nissan, the long-term cooperation partner of Renault, pushed forward. Toyota’s previous CEO, Akio Toyoda (66), already had Announced late 2021to invest more than 30 billion euros in pure electrical projects by the middle of the decade; however, that was significantly less than the German Volkswagen Group had announced at the time. At the same time, Toyoda pushed hydrogen and hybrid technologies with similar sums.
Sato, who was previously also responsible for the luxury brand Lexus and racing, distanced himself from the previous group management, even if he wants to stick to the previous course with drive types developed in parallel. “We’ve been working on developing battery electric vehicles, but perceptions may not have reflected that well,” he said. In the future, Toyota’s electric models shouldn’t just be electric cars to keep up with the times, but “have to answer the question of what kind of electric car Toyota can offer,” he said. In the future, Toyota will build smarter cars that are safer and more fun; for this purpose, internet and entertainment functions are to be more closely integrated into the cockpits.
In order to be able to make a high-quality offer, the company’s entire production system had to be revised. For example, Toyota is struggling with the high cost of batteries, although reducing costs is not a goal in itself. Up to now, the company has been proud of its production methods, which have been regarded worldwide as a model for modern industrial production for decades.
“Lexus will lead this development,” said Sato and also announced a reorganization at the top. He sees himself “as the captain of a football team”. In a presentation, he listed the various executives. For example, Hiroki Nakajima, who is now in charge of mid-size vehicles, has been appointed executive vice president of technology. Yoichi Miyazaki, who was previously responsible for the operative business, will become the group’s new chief financial officer.
With the management reorganization, Akio Toyoda, the previous CEO and grandson of the company’s founder, will become the company’s chairman; the position is roughly comparable to that of a supervisory board chairman. Toyoda was not present at Monday’s announcement.
Toyota only presented business figures last week. In the past nine months of the current financial year, the group generated a net profit of around 1.9 trillion yen (13.5 billion euros) for the months of April to December. This is a decrease of 18 percent compared to the same period last year. Revenue rose 18 percent to 27.5 trillion yen. In the 2022 calendar year, the group, which also includes the truck manufacturer Hino and the small car specialist Daihatsu, delivered almost 10.5 million vehicles and thus remained the world market leader Volkswagen. However, Toyota scaled back the production target it had lowered in the fall because of the still shaky supply chains. The group now expects around 9.1 million vehicles in 2022/23.