Toyota has announced the appointment of executive officer Tsuneji Sato as president, effective 1 April. The trigger was Chairman Uchiyamada’s offer to step down, and President Akio Toyoda will assume the role of Chairman of the Board of Directors. The relationship between Chairman-elect Toyoda and President-elect Sato is one of being a fellow ‘Car Guy’, and the smiling, natural interaction between the two passengers in the Lexus RZ test drive video introduced at the BEV strategy briefing in December 2021 shows that they are very much in tune. In succeeding the long-term administration of Akio Toyoda, the founder of the company, it is very important to have a good relationship with the incoming Chairman Toyoda and to be able to handle pressure, and some say that the new President Sato is the right person for the job.

　New President Sato has also been involved in the development of the LC as chief engineer of Lexus. In an interview as head of development, Mr Sato said, “The essence of beauty is based on function and necessity”. This philosophy is partly influenced by the Ritsumeikan Saionji Juku lectures for working people, which he attended in 2015 to train the next generation of leaders. The lectures were given by leading cultural figures in Japanese culture on such topics as ‘altruism’, ‘compassion’, ‘reverence for life’, ‘coexistence and circulation with nature’, ‘freedom and equality’, ‘peace and safety’, ‘manufacturing’ and ‘knowing what is enough’, and Mr Sato was “exposed to many ideas that have Japanese culture and values as their backbone”. Mr Sato states that he “came into contact with a lot of ideas that have Japanese culture and values as their backbone”. These ideas are also utilised in the formal beauty of Lexus, leading to improved brand value. The new president is expected to carry out a full model change to become a mobility company, while at the same time communicating Japan’s unique formal beauty to the world at large.

The new president is expected to carry out a full model change to become a mobility company, while at the same time communicating Japan’s unique formal beauty to the world at large. The new president is expected to carry out a full model change to become a mobility company, while at the same time communicating Japan’s unique formal beauty to the world at large.

Toyota’s New BEV Global Strategy will investigate and analyse the BEV global strategy from the product, development, procurement, production and sales perspectives, while taking into account Toyota’s overall xEV strategy. It analyses the direction of Toyota’s BEV strategy, which is being re-examined under an agile philosophy, and Toyota’s approach underlying the strategy formulation, as well as the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and challenges of the BEV business. Based on the overview and performance of the most recently launched new-generation BEVs, we will also look ahead to the new BEVs that are expected to be launched further in the future. Furthermore, the growing significance of BEVs in the context of carbon neutrality and sustainability, which are top management priorities, will also be analysed.