Toyota hires new managment to crush GM

TOKYO, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Japanese carmaker Toyota is shuffling its upper management in a bid to overtake Detroit giant General Motors, the Financial Times reports.

Toyota said it would replace current president Fujio Cho this June with Katsuaki Watanabe, one of six vice presidents at the company. Then Cho will become vice-chairman and within the year replace Hiroshi Okuda as chairman.

Five other vice presidents will retire, and eight new vice presidents will be brought in, Toyota said.

Toyota said the move was meant to shake up what had become a company fixed in its ways.