Aged 66, Mr. Toyoda, who had been CEO since 2009, will take over as chairman of the group's board of directors in place of Takeshi Uchiyamada, 76.

Koji Sato, 53, had been Group Chief Operating Officer and Brand Director since January 2021.

He was also since 2020 the president of Lexus International Co, Toyota's premium brand, and the president of Gazoo Racing, the group's motorsport brand.

He joined Toyota in 1992, after studying mechanical engineering at the prestigious Waseda University in Tokyo.

Akio Toyoda praised the virtues of his successor during an online press conference on Thursday, in particular his "youth", his love of cars and the dynamism of his team.

"To promote change at a time when the future is unpredictable, the leader must continue to stay on the front line. For this, stamina, energy and passion are needed," Toyoda explained.

"He's young and he has like-minded colleagues, so I expect him to be able to cross the boundaries that I haven't been able to cross myself," he said. added.

"I'm an engineer and I've been dedicated to developing cars for a long time. I like making cars," Sato said on Thursday.

These governance changes will have to be formally formalized after the group's ordinary general meeting later this year.

delay in electric

"It's positive because it will rejuvenate the company's management" while maintaining a form of stability, with Mr. Toyoda in a supervisory role, said automotive analyst Tatsuo Yoshida in a note from Bloomberg Economics.

Akio Toyoda was also 53 when he became Toyota's youngest CEO in 2009, at a time when the group, hard hit by the global economic crisis, was seeking to reunite around the symbol of the founding family.

After a hesitant first step, this car racing enthusiast (and happy driver himself under the pseudonym of "Morizo") has become a charismatic boss.

He has regularly raised his group to world number one in its sector in terms of volume sales, thanks in particular to its excellent positions in China and North America.

Since 2020, Toyota has again been at the top of this ranking, ahead of the German Volkswagen group.

Champion of hybrid engines and pioneer of hydrogen, Toyota has however been slow to accelerate in electric battery vehicles, unlike many of its major foreign competitors, thus attracting many criticisms, in particular from environmental NGOs.

The group finally announced major investments in this segment from the end of 2021, but almost reluctantly.

Mr. Toyoda thus continued thereafter to be regularly skeptical about the prospects of electric cars for the mass market.

And last year's launch of the bZ4X SUV, the inaugural model of Toyota's first electric range, was disrupted by a humiliating recall campaign just after it went on sale due to a problem with its wheel mountings.

Continuing on from Mr. Toyoda, Koji Sato promised on Thursday to continue "accelerating the transition to electrification", while ensuring that cars are made "responding to diverse values ​​and local needs". .

This is the group's current creed of not putting all its eggs in one basket and of leaving as many options as possible to its customers, depending on the pace of the low-carbon transition in their respective regions.

© 2023 AFP