Akio Toyoda to step down, Lexus, GAZOO Racing chief Koji Sato named new Toyota president and CEO

Toyota Motor Corporation announced on January 26, 2023 that company president and CEO Akio Toyoda will step down on April 1, 2023.

Taking Toyoda’s place is 53-year-old Koji Sato, who is the president of Toyota’s luxury car arm Lexus and the Japanese carmaker’s motorsports division GAZOO Racing. Sato is also Toyota’s chief branding officer.

Meanwhile, the 66-year-old Toyoda, who is the grandson of company founder Kiichiro Toyoda, will replace Takeshi Uchiyamada as Toyota’s chairman.

The corporate movement comes at a major crossroads for Toyota, which has been reluctant to fully commit to battery-electric vehicles (EV) since Toyoda’s reign started in 2009.

Nonetheless, Toyota’s battery EVs as of press time include the bZ3 sedan, along with the bZ4x and Lexus RZ crossovers.

Under Toyoda, the company has also been refining its hybrid EVs and developing hydrogen as a cleaner replacement for gasoline in internal-combustion engines.

Mechanical engineer at the helm

Sato graduated from Waseda University with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering on March 1992, joining Toyota a month later.

On January 2016, Sato was appointed chief engineer of Lexus International Co., becoming the luxury brand’s executive general manager on April 2017. 

He then became Lexus executive vice president on January 2019 and was promoted to president on January 2020.

On September 2020, he was appointed president of GAZOO Racing Company and became Toyota’s chief branding officer on January 2021.

‘Morizo’ stays at the top level

Toyoda, meanwhile, graduated from Keio University with a law degree on April 1979.

He then got a master's degree in business administration from Babson College in the United States in 1982. He joined the family business in April 1984.

Outside Japan, he served as an executive vice president and board member at New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc., Toyota's production joint venture with General Motors in California, starting on April 1998.

On January 2000, he returned to Japan and was named to TMC's Board of Directors in June. After nine years of high-level management work, he was named company president on June 2009.

Toyoda is also a keen racing driver, participating in various rally and circuit events under his driver persona “Morizo.” He has also served as a development driver for Toyota’s high-performance GR lineup.

Where do you think Toyota is headed under its new president and CEO?