Japan’s largest automaker announced the appointment on Friday as part of changes to its executive structure.
Current CEO Sato Koji will become vice chairman and also take on the newly established role of chief industry officer. Sato took the helm three years ago from current Chairman Toyoda Akio.
The company says the change in roles is “intended to accelerate management decision-making in response to changes in the internal and external environment.”
Kon said: “When our company tries to do something new, we tend to think in ways consistent with the methods and formulas we used in the past. I think that’s very important for improving our current business, but when it comes to something new, we need to do things a little differently.”
Toyota also announced that its group sales hit a record for the April to December period, helped by robust performance in the Japanese and North American markets.
Revenue rose 6.8 percent from a year earlier to 38.08 trillion yen or about 243 billion dollars. But operating income fell 13.1 percent to 3.19 trillion yen or roughly 20 billion dollars.
Toyota says the Trump administration’s tariff measures drove down operating profit by 1.2 trillion yen. Net income also dropped 26.1 percent to 3.03 trillion yen.
