Toyota Motor Corporation says it will overhaul its top leadership from April 1, handing the chief executive role to finance chief Kenta Kon and shifting outgoing president Koji Sato into a new, outward-facing industry brief.
Under the changes, Sato becomes vice chairman and takes on the newly created post of chief industry officer, while Kon, 57, becomes president and CEO, Toyota said.
The company said the split was designed to speed up decision-making as conditions shifted inside and outside the business, with Sato focusing on wider industry coordination and Kon driving internal management and reforms.
Toyota pointed to Sato’s public roles as a factor, including his chairmanship of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association and his vice chair position at Keidanren, where he was expected to push manufacturing-led policy proposals and deepen industry collaboration.
Toyota also said it needed to broaden partnerships beyond the auto sector as it continued its transformation into a mobility company.
Inside the company, Toyota said immediate priorities included lifting “earning power” and lowering break-even volume, calling for value-chain-wide reforms rather than siloed, functional fixes.
Toyota said Kon, as CFO, had been leading work to strengthen the earnings structure and had also gained cross-functional management exposure through Woven by Toyota.
The surprising switch is taking place as global carmakers wrestled with faster-moving Chinese rivals, high EV transition costs and a messier trade outlook.
Meanwhile, filling in the CFO post is another Toyota veteran Yoichi Miyazaki.
