UPI en Español  |   UPI Asia  |   About UPI  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Toyota names Akio Toyoda as next president

|
 
Published: Jan. 9, 2009 at 4:15 PM

TOKYO, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Toyota Motor Corp. of Japan said a member of the company's founding family would be its next president, giving its current president a vice-chairman post.

Akio Toyoda will take over as president in June. Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe will become vice chairman at that time, while Chairman Fujio Cho will maintain his position, Kyodo News reported Friday.

The delay in the switch was calculated to allow blame aimed at Watanabe for the company's poor performance in 2008 to dissipate, observers said.

It has been long anticipated that Toyoda, who has worked as an executive vice president since 2005, would eventually take over the president's post.

The most recent family member to serve as Toyota's president was Tatsuro Toyoda, who retired in 1995, due to illness.

Toyota announced in December that the fiscal year ending March 2009 would be its first ever with the bottom line recorded in red ink.

Topics: Fujio Cho, Katsuaki Watanabe
© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
'Star Trek Into Darkness' screening NBC upfronts Met Ball 2013
'Great Gatsby' premieres in New York Spire raised on top of One WTC 2013: Celebrity break ups and divorces
Additional Business News Stories
1 of 17
Tornado recover efforts underway in Moore, Oklahoma
View Caption
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin talks to victims from the May 20 tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma, May 22, 2013. The EF-5 tornado cut a path of destruction approximately 17 miles by 1.3 miles wide and left 24 people dead. UPI/J.P. Wilson
fark
First female amputee to climb Everest looks forward to final leg
Montreal mom arrested for stabbing man who attacked son says she'd do it again. Finally, an arrested...
The 2013 hantavirus season officially kicks off in Arizona, EVERYBODY PANIC
Doodle 4 Google's national winner. A very compelling, very moving image from a young artist. Never...
Standardized tests show our children isn't learning in voucher schools
AAA: expect less traffic this Memorial Day weekend