TOKYO, Jan. 7, 2024—In the wake of the massive earthquake killing dozens of people and the Japan Airlines jet explosion on 2024 New Year’s Day and the following day, Japan’s auto industry leader, Akio Toyoda of Toyota Motor Corp., January 5 made comments that sounded uplifting to most Japanese and disturbing to others.
A common thread that both pleasers and worriers about Toyoda’s comments is that Toyota is Japan’s largest manufacturer group and what its leader says weighs heavily on the country at large, from politics and economy to society.
Toyoda spoke to an annual New Year gathering of Japanese auto industry executives in Tokyo Jan. 5. The 67-year-old Toyoda served as the chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association for 13-1/2 years through 2023, the longest serving JAMA chairman since its founding in1962. The former JAMA chairmen, Akio’s father, the late Shoichiro Toyoda, and his successor Yutaka Kume of Nissan Motor Co., served 4 years, respectively. The post historically had been taken up by turn by Toyota and Nissan every two years until 2002, when a Honda Motor chairman was appointed for the first time outside the two automakers.
Akio stepped down as Toyota president and CEO in 2023, appointing Koji Sato. He also stepped down as JAMA chairman, giving the chair to truck maker Isuzu Motor Co.’s chairman Masanori Katayama.
Katayama gave his New Year salute to the Jan. 5 gathering and expressed condolences to the Noto Peninsular earthquake victims and toughed on the JAL accident (which did not cause any casualties from among its 379 passengers and crew, though 5 Japan coast guard officers died). He then asked Toyoda to speak – a very unusual move to ask a predecessor to do so.
Toyoda expressed condolences to the victims of the two New Year incidents, then immediately said that he served for 13-1/2 years as JAMA vice chairman and chairman, showing some past chairmen’s tenures and photos on the screen. ‘…all chairmen…served more than 4 years.
‘Later, the chairman tenures became shorter, and it had become a tradition to rotate the post among Nissan, Toyota and Honda…As the industry was poised to plunge into a one-in-a-century streamlining period, I was reappointed as JAMA chairman for the second time (in 2018),’ Toyoda said.
Akio then prided him for delivering on his slogans of ‘the industry that all of us work,’ ‘the future is ours to make,’ and ‘the 5.5 million (auto industry workers that contribute to) running automobiles.’ While saying he’s not the king who is carried in throne by the 5.5 million auto industry people, he observed the New Year sunrise at Toyota’s Fuji Speedway race circuit and the Toyota team won the New Year Ekiden marathon for the first time in 8 years.
The year 2024, he said, is confronted by many tall issues, first, the reconstruction from the Noto earthquake, and then nationwide logistics and distribution problems resulting from labor shortage. To address those issues, ‘being kind and gentle’ to people will become more important than ever, he said. And ‘love’ to Japanese and global peoples, he said.
Some persons attending the gathering murmured that Akio Toyoda spoke to the audience with intent to remind them that he remains in charge of Toyota and industry management. ‘He’s still young so seems to want people to know that he’s still at the helm,’ one observe told the Prospect.
That’d be good as long as the Japanese auto industry keeps abreast of global competition and young aspirant Japanese lock horns with foreign rivals.
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