Toyota is soon to appoint a founding family member to the top job for the first time in 14 years.
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Akio Toyoda will become president in June, sources told Kyodo News on Friday, while current president Katsuaki Watanabe will become vice chairman and chairman Fujio Cho will remain in post.
A board meeting after a shareholders gathering in June will formalise the new appointments.
Toyoda (52) is a great-grandson of the late Sakichi Toyoda, who founded the Toyota Motor group in 1937, and also the oldest son of honorary chairman Shoichiro Toyoda, now 83.
The Toyota group traces its origins to a loom works and built its first car in the 1930s. It recently said it would post its first fiscal year operating loss in its 70-year history for 2008 – JPY150bn vs an originally forecast JPY600bn profit.
Akio Toyoda, an executive vice president since 2005, has long been tipped as a likely future president, according to Kyodo. The last president from the founding family was Tasturo Toyoda who retired from the post in 1995 due to illness.
