The old and new Toyota boss appeared in a particularly friendly manner on Friday in front of the journalists who had been summoned at short notice in Tokyo. Just an hour earlier, the world’s largest car manufacturer had surprisingly announced that the previous CFO, Kenta Kon, would take over the chief position from Koji Sato on April 1st. Now both of them tried not to make this look like a rejection of the previous CEO. In view of the major changes in the entire auto industry, Sato should focus more on new collaborations with other companies in his new role as Chief Industry Officer, something like an industry board member, and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors. As the new CEO, Kon should govern internally and, above all, further increase profitability. “Sato will be like the captain of the national team and I will be the captain of a club team,” said Kon. For three years, Kon has been responsible for the finances of Woven by Toyota, the digital innovation subsidiary. Last summer he was appointed chief financial officer of the group. In the press conference, Sato emphasized that Kon, as an “outsider,” could perhaps bring in new ideas to further improve profitability, even in worse times. “I always think about money and how we can improve our profits,” said Kon about himself. Things aren’t going that badly. After three years under Sato’s leadership, the Japanese car company is in a significantly better position than many other traditional car manufacturers. The Volkswagen Group relegated Toyota to second place among the world’s top-selling automakers for the sixth time in a row with sales of 10.5 million vehicles last year. Unlike the Wolfsburg-based company, the Japanese are not thinking about plant closures. On the contrary: at the same time as the announcement of the change in boss on Friday, Toyota also announced solid business figures for the first nine months of its financial year, which runs until the end of March. The group increased its profit forecast for the year to 3.8 trillion yen (around 23 billion euros). The company had previously assumed 3.4 trillion yen. The reason for this is, on the one hand, surprisingly strong sales in the United States, but also special profits due to the unusually weak yen and cost savings. Since Sato took office, the company’s share price has doubled. When he took over the business from Akio Toyoda, who had led the group for 13 years, in 2023, his main aim was to usher in a strategy for the age of electric cars. The fact that he still stuck to hybrids has contributed significantly to the group’s good sales figures and results in recent years. But the change in boss to Kon was also well received on the stock market. On Friday, the stock rose by another two percent in Tokyo. Tough competition from Chinese manufacturers Although the business figures look better than many competitors, Toyota and the rapidly emerging competition from BYD and other Chinese manufacturers are also suffering. In China itself, but also in many Southeast Asian countries, cheap cars and the rapid pace of development are making life difficult for the Japanese. Toyota patriarch Akio Toyoda, who now heads the supervisory board, recently warned that cars could become a “commodity”, i.e. an interchangeable cheap product, due to cheap and very fast competitors from China. With the restructuring, the group wants to accelerate decision-making processes in order to be able to react better to the profound changes in the industry, it was said on Friday. Sato’s move into his new role should also be seen against this background. He recently took over the chairmanship of the Japanese automobile association JAMA and the vice-chairmanship of the influential business association Keidanren. Given the increasing competition in the global auto industry, on the one hand, manufacturers need to work more closely together to support the Japanese industry, said Sato. On the other hand, in times of digitalization, car companies would also have to enter into new collaborations with partners outside the industry. In the procurement of batteries and chips, among other things, Japanese car manufacturers are trying to jointly strengthen their supply chains under the guidance of the Industry Ministry Meti. More on the topic In fact, some of Toyota’s domestic competitors had to present significantly worse business figures on Friday than the industry leader. Mitsubishi Motors reported a net loss of 4.4 billion yen (23.9 million euros) for the nine months up to December and attributed this primarily to the high burden of American import tariffs. The operating result fell by almost 70 percent to 31.6 billion yen (170 million euros). Suzuki Motor also reported a decline in operating profit for the period April to December for the first time in five years and attributed this primarily to increased raw material costs at its production sites in India. Nissan, for a long time the number three Japanese manufacturer, has been in a deep crisis for two years, which has, among other things, resulted in the reduction of many jobs and the closure of several plants. The new boss is a home-grown man. The new Toyota boss Kon is a real home-grown man. The now 58-year-old manager joined the group in 1991 after studying economics at Tohoku University. From then on, he worked his way up through various positions in the group’s finance department. In his most recent role at Woven, he learned a lot about how important it is for different parts of the company to communicate with each other; He now wants to promote this in the entire group. In the end, the outgoing CEO Sato couldn’t resist a little criticism of his successor: “Mr. Kon actually only likes minivans.” This is almost an insult in a company that is particularly proud of its sports cars.
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