“I thought he was kidding!" One day Koji Sato was a senior executive at the Toyota Motor Corporation, company lifer and engineer of much renown, head of its Gazoo Racing performance and Lexus luxury divisions and holder of numerous nose-bleedingly senior management titles. The next he was stood at a race track in Thailand, chatting and testing cars with the incumbent president and CEO, Akio Toyoda, when he was asked if he fancied running the world's largest car maker at the most pivotal point in its history. Even after his stellar career advancement, it came as a total shock.
Laugh. Smile. Gulp. At the last count, Toyota had 372,817 employees, sold 10.5 million cars (making it the world's biggest car and commercial vehicle company by volume for the third straight year) and enjoyed annual operating profits of upwards of £10 billion.
But, to paraphrase Toyoda, it also had a host of problems that he was simply too old to fix himself, all driven by the need to morph from car maker to mobility company in an era of zeroemissions challenges, changing software and technical expectations, autonomy and more.
Well prepared he may have been, but Sato aged 53 to Toyoda's 66 and now a few months into the role - doesn't shy away from admitting to feeling the pressure, at least initially.
"I felt this huge responsibility," he says. "I was worried whether I would be able to repeat the success alone. But it was Akio who told me not to feel that way but to approach it rather as a team captain. That changed my view; from that moment, I felt it was possible. I could be the boss but we could support each other to achieve our goals. I have a team around me and I must enable them to achieve success, not do it all myself."
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 17, 2023 من Autocar UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 17, 2023 من Autocar UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
LAND ROVER DEFENDER
Our new 130-all 5358mm and £96,745 of it - has its first taste of life as a daily wagon
RENAULT CLIO
Trip down to Spa reveals its talents aren't diminished with another two men aboard
Make mine a slightly smaller one
The Little Car Company has hit new heights of scaled-down kerb appeal with its recreated
Loyal to the end
Old-school vehicle breakers' yards are rare these days, but a handful of marque specialists are soldiering on to provide a vital service. John Evans pays one a visit
THAT'S WHY WE GO TO ICELAND
Smooth, empty roads snaking through epic scenery are one reason. Experiencing erupting volcanos is another. Matt Prior goes in search of both in Kia's latest Sorento and finds 50mph ways to leave your lava
TESTED 27.4.24, DEVON ON SALE NOW - PORSCHE 718 SPYDER RS
Dream-like on German asphalt, does this curious Rennsport also excel in the UK?
TESTED 20.5.24, FRANKFURT, GERMANY ON SALE NOW - FORD TOURNEO CUSTOM
New Transit sprouts seats and windows, gets a PHEV system that works differently
TESTED 24.5.24, BERKSHIRE ON SALE NOW - MINI COUNTRYMAN SE
Flagship version of the larger and pricier third-generation SUV arrives in the UK
TESTED 29.5.24, BEDFORDSHIRE ON SALE NOW - PORSCHE TAYCAN
Refreshed saloon targets class supremacy with electric powertrain updates
TESTED 23.5.24, BEDFORDSHIRE ON SALE NOW PRICE £446,742 - LAMBORGHINI REVUELTO
We've sampled Sant'Agata's new-era, 1001bhp supercar on track. Now it's time to see how it fares on a decent B-road