Akio Toyoda

Akio Toyoda
豊田章男
Akio Toyoda (2011)
Born (1956-05-03) May 3, 1956
Nagoya, Japan
Nationality Japanese
Education Keio University
Babson College
Occupation President,
Toyota Motor Corporation
Spouse(s) Married
Parent(s) Shoichiro Toyoda

Akio Toyoda (豊田章男, Toyoda Akio, born May 3, 1956) is a Japanese business executive and the current president of Toyota Motor Corporation.[1] He is the great grandson of the father of the Japanese industrial revolution, as well as being both the grandson to the founder of Toyota motors and maternal grandson to the founder of the Takashimaya department store corporation.


Early life and education

Toyoda is the great grandson of the founder of Toyoda Automatic Loomworks, Sakichi Toyoda, and grandson to the Toyota Motors founder, Kiichiro Toyoda. He was born May 3, 1956, at Nagoya to Shoichiro Toyoda and Hiroko née Mitsui. Toyoda's talented family line have long dominated the upper management of the family businesses since the days his carpenter-farmer great great grandfather, Ikichi Toyoda, taught his son fabrication and carpentry. Akio Toyoda was the chief contender for the family business when Katsuaki Watanabe was reassigned as Vice-Chairman in the wake of the quality control crisis.[2][3]

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sasuke
 
Heikichi
 
 
 
Asako
 
Sakichi
 
Tami
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Eiji
 
Rizaburo
 
Aiko
 
Kiichiro
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Shuhei
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Tatsuro
 
Shoichiro
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Akio

Toyoda completed his undergraduate work in law at Keio University[4] in Japan and was awarded his Masters of Finance at Babson College [5] [6] in Massachusetts. He would join the family business in 1984.

Toyota

Grandson to the company founder, in 2000, Toyoda joined Toyota's board of directors.[7] In 2005, Toyoda was promoted to the position of executive vice president.[8] In January of 2009, it was announced that Toyoda was chosen as the forthcoming president of the company.[9] On June 23, 2009, he was confirmed as the new president, along with four new executive vice presidents and eight new board members.[10] The previous president and CEO Katsuaki Watanabe became vice chairman, replacing Katsuhiro Nakagawa.[11]

As an avid auto racing fan and driver himself, Toyoda has promoted sports models like the Lexus IS-F and Lexus LF-A at auto races. He has participated as a driver at events like the ADAC 24-STUNDEN-RENNEN 2009 race employing the pseudonym Morizo Kinoshita.[12] In 2009, he reached the 87th position overall and the fourth position in his class with his LF-A Prototyp No. 14.[13][14]

In 2012, he was named Autocar's Man of the Year.[15]

Toyota global recalls and Congressional Statement

In the wake of massive global recalls ballooning to 8.5 million vehicles, Toyoda was invited to testify before the U.S. Congress on February 17, 2010,[16] which he accepted. A week later, he issued a prepared statement to the Congress.[17] He focused on three key issues: Toyota's basic philosophy regarding quality control, the cause of the recalls, and ″how we will manage quality control going forward″.[18] On February 24, 2010, accompanied by president and COO of Toyota Motor North America, Yoshimi Inaba, Toyoda testified before the House of Representatives' Oversight and Government Reform Committee. As the scion of a family world renown for their contributions to automated manufacturing, the quality control crises personally effected the former Massachusetts student, Toyoda[19]. In his comments he is quoted as being "deeply sorry" and highlighted the relations between Toyota Vehicles in the United States and Americans for fifty years.[20]

Notes

  1. ↑ Toyoda New President CNN
  2. ↑ Shirouzu, Norihiko and John Murphy. "Toyota to Change Leader Amid Global Sales Slump," Wall Street Journal. December 24, 2008.
  3. ↑ Kubo, Nobuhiro and Chang-Ran Kim. "Toyota confirms Akio Toyoda as New President," Reuters (UK). June 23, 2009, retrieved 20111-04-22
  4. ↑ http://toyotanews.pressroom.toyota.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=2280
  5. ↑ http://www.babson.edu/about-babson/at-a-glance/Pages/notable-alumni.aspx
  6. ↑ http://www.autonews.com/article/20140602/OEM06/306029960/alma-mater-matters%3A-why-babson-college-is-toyotas-special-partner
  7. ↑ "Akio Toyoda" (profile), Forbes (US), retrieved 2011-04-22
  8. ↑ Hasegawa, Yōzō. (2010). Rediscovering Japanese Business Leadership, p. 173., p. 173, at Google Books
  9. ↑ Rowley, Ian. "It's Official: Toyota Scion to Be New Chief," Business Week. January 20, 2009.
  10. ↑ Chartered Management Institute blog: "Akio Toyoda to Continue the Toyota Way," Archived 2009-07-19 at the Wayback Machine. June 23, 2009, retrieved 2011-04-22
  11. ↑ "Toyota Names Akio Toyoda as Next President," UPI (US). January 9, 2009, retrieved 2011-04-26.
  12. ↑ Toyota-Chef startet im Lexus LF-A. sport auto, 22. Mai 2009
  13. ↑ 37. ADAC Zurich 24h Rennen, Nürburgring result, 2009-05-24.
  14. ↑ Results 24h Nürburgring Archived 2013-09-04 at Archive.is, accessed 2015-04-29.
  15. ↑ "Akio Toyoda named Autocar Man of the Year". Autocar. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  16. ↑ Toyota ‘prince’ needs to steer company in crisis
  17. ↑ "Toyota president Akio Toyoda's statement to Congress," The Guardian (UK). 24 February 2010, retrieved 2011-04-22
  18. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/business/2010/feb/24/akio-toyoda-statement-to-congress
  19. ↑ http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/24/toyota.hearing.updates/index.html
  20. ↑ Raum, Tom and Ken Thomas. "Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda To Congress: 'I'm Deeply Sorry'," Huffington Post (US). February 24, 2010, retrieved 2011-04-22; "Toyota president testifies before Congress," CNN (US). February 24, 2010, retrieved 2011-04-22

References

  • Hasegawa, Yōzō. (2010). Rediscovering Japanese Business Leadership: 15 Japanese Managers and the Companies They're Leading to New Growth. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley. ISBN 9780470824955; OCLC 435422498
Business positions
Preceded by
Katsuaki Watanabe		 CEO of Toyota
2009–present		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
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