Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp chief Akio Toyoda is set to remain a dominant force inside the world’s largest automaker for years to come and would continue to influence the agenda after stepping down in April, people and experts familiar with the firm said.
According to Reuters, the 66-year-old Toyoda has announced he would step aside as leader of the company his grandfather founded on April 1, 2022, to take the role of chairman. He could hand over the charge to Koji Sato, the 53-year-old head of Toyota’s luxury Lexus brand.
Toyota target of activists
In recent years, Toyota has become the target of activists and green investors who had once heralded its hybrid technology but who is now slated for a belated embrace of electric vehicles.
As the United States. EV maker Tesla Inc stole the attention for its innovation, Toyota, and Toyoda himself often looked out of touch with the zeitgeist. They pressed a case for battery-petrol hybrids and, eventually, hydrogen-fuelled cars.
The market reaction to Toyoda’s announcement muted the automaker’s stock price little on Friday as investors bet the company was unlikely to see the extensive overhaul in the foreseeable future.
Julie Boote said that an analyst at Pelham Smithers Associates in London, “the new appointment is less about a change in direction and more about careful consideration of the possible way to organise the handover, avoiding disruption and chaos,”.
