Toyota on Friday named finance boss Kenta Kon, a close ally of Chairman Akio Toyoda, as its next chief executive, as the world’s largest automaker grapples with deepening competition from fast-moving Chinese rivals.
The surprise move will see current CEO Koji Sato step down from April 1 after just three years at the helm to become vice chairman and take on the newly created role of chief industry officer. As chief financial officer, Kon is known for his ability to keep a tight lid on costs. He is also widely seen as the architect of a planned buyout of forklift subsidiary Toyota Industries.
The deal, which would strengthen the Toyoda founding family’s control of the Toyota group, has been opposed by minority shareholders who have criticised it as lacking transparency and being greatly underpriced. Before rising through the ranks of the accounting department, Kon spent time as the head of the automaker’s secretarial department while Toyoda was CEO.
Toyoda, the grandson of the automaker’s founder, was chief executive for almost a decade and a half before he named Sato as his successor. The announcement was made in tandem with the release of Toyota’s third-quarter earnings, where it boosted its outlook for full-year operating profit by almost 12%, helped by a weaker yen and cost-cutting efforts.
