The CEO of Toyota, Akio Toyoda, is stepping down, and I think it's because he has been too slow to adopt EVs (electric vehicles).
Akio Toyoda Steps Down
On April 1st, 2023, Akio Toyoda will be stepping down from his role as president and chief executive officer. He is 66 years old and will instead move to chairman of the board of directors, which will replace Takeshi Uchiyamada. Takeshi will stay on the board as a voting member.
Who is going to replace Toyoda? It will be Koji Sato, who currently sits as Toyota's chief operating officer, chief branding officer, and president of Lexus International. Who is going to fill Sato's other current roles? Nobody knows yet.
Toyoda also goes by the name Mr. Morizon from the racing community, and is the grandson of Toyota's founder. He joined the board of directors in 2000 and was then promoted to executive vice president in 2005. He bcame CEO in 2009 and has been in that role the last 14 years. It's probably not a bad idea for him to make a change. I'll explain why in just a moment.
Akio Toyoda said, in a webcast, that cars in the future will evolve in the concept of mobility itself. He hopes that he can preserve the essential value of the car and propose new forms of mobility. I'm not sure what he means by that - he's not mentioning a specific product or software or anything...
Slow to Adopt EVs
Whether this is the reason or not, It's a good thing for Akio to leave Toyota because Toyota has been slow to adopt EVs (electric vehicles). The reason not adopting electric vehicles has been hard for Toyota is because Toyota has been so successful selling gas cars. It is their cash cow and "bread and butter".
But, Toyota is going to have to eventually adopt EVs. EVs are continuing to get better, and it is getting to the point now where a vehicle like a Tesla Model 3 is more economical to own over a typical lifespan of 8 years than it is to even own a Toyota Camry.
Toyota is going to have to make some hard decisions in order to adopt EVs because the majority of their manufacturing is in ICE (internal-combustion-engine) vehicles.
Toyota has been very successful in the ICE car business. It has yet to prove it can move to where vehicles are going - to EVs.
Do you think CEO, Akio Toyoda is leaving because Toyota isn't adopting electric vehicles fast enough?
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