Akio Toyoda, the newly elected President of Toyota Motor Co. is a bit of a maverick within the extremely hierarchal and conservative Japan giant carmaker. Like many traditional Japanese organizations, age and seniority goes hand in hand. Thus, many were doubtful and even resisted the election of Akio Toyoda, who at 53 years old puts him as the youngest President ever to head Toyota. Of course, having the Toyoda name and being the descendent of the highly respected founding Toyoda family does help.
The young Toyoda is an avid racer and has participated in 3 of the last ADAC Nurburgring 24-Hour races. He was also instrumental in pushing for the approval of high performance emotional models like Lexus IS-F and Lexus LF-A by the company management. In the both IS-F project and gazoo.com Toyota lifestyle web portal project, it was said that the company did not approve any funding for it as the company's top management did not believe there was any business case in the two. Refused to be bullied into submission nor believe that his work has no commercial value, Toyoda launched gazoo.com with his own self-sourced funding and it is now one of Japan's most popular web portals. For the IS-F, Toyoda recruited his own "skunkworks" team of volunteer engineers who put the car together in their after office hours. Though still not in the same league as a M3 or RS4 or C63 AMG, it does say a lot about this maverick's dislike towards blind obedience, a very rare trait in Japanese corporate culture. But then again, having Toyoda name does provide him some form of insurance to go against the established hierarchy.
In the 2009 Nurburgring 24-Hours race, Akio Toyoda raced the No.14 Lexus LF-A prototype under a pseudonym "Morizo." His team finished fourth in class, 87th overall. Not bad for a suit and tie guy. But Akio Toyoda is again running foul with the Toyota's top management. Members of the board are not too happy with what they see as a too high risk antics for a company leader.
In a report by the Automotive News, he was quoted saying :
"The folks here are pleading with me to stop," Toyoda said, motioning towards his deputies who were at a news conference on Thursday where he sketched out plans for Toyota to become a leaner and more focused carmaker.
"But there's a reason why I participate in these races. First, it's because it's Nurburgring. Second, it's 24 hours. And third, it has a lot to do with the development of cars."
"Put another way, you can say that I'm staking my life to come up with a better product," he said.
Toyoda, who has said he wants to be a president "closest to the front lines," went on to describe the smooth tracks he's driven on in Japan and the demanding surface of Nurburgring.
The No.14 Lexus LF-A driven by Morizo aka Akio Toyoda. A VERY not typical image of a Japanese company president who will normally rather be chauffered in his Toyota Crown / Lexus LS 460L.
How is that for the new image of Toyota - commonly perceived to be the richest car company in the world making uninspiring boring products? It can't get any better than this. Hats off to Toyoda-san, he has my respect.
In his blog at Gazoo Racing, "Morizo" also talks about running into Aston Martin CEO Dr. Ulrich Bez, who also races at Nurburgring despite strong objections from his company.
"It's because there's someone like this at the top that the company can come up with an emotional sports car like the Vantage. That was the feeling I got as an employee at a carmaker," Morizo wrote on the Japanese-language blog.
The boss of Aston Martin is the only other car company CEO / President who participates in motor racing with their own cars. Aston Martin is another miracle turn-around story under the guidance of Dr. Ulrich Bez, who was formerly from BMW and Porsche, managed to turn around the ailing British supercar maker with a series of mind blowing products like the Vanquish, DB9 and V8 Vantage. Together with the famous Chris Porritt (vehicle dynamics manager) and Wolfgang Schuhbauer (development engineer) they regularly compete in the Nurburgring 24-Hours in their Aston Martin V8 Vantage N24. The fourth driver is reserved for an automotive publication journalist (with significant driving skills of course)
A British marque that flies 3 out of 4 German flags...Aston Martin's "Ringmeister" and vehicle dynamics manager Chris Porritt flies the Union Jack solo.
Dr. Ulrich Bez - not your average pot-bellied, high risk for cardiac disease company CEO. This is a CEO with the focus and balls to commit a car to tackle the Nurburgring's infamous Flugplatz jump and the high g-force carousel corner. Not your average BS-king CEO with no clue or direction to lead the team.
Chris Porritt - "Ringmeister" and Aston Martin's chassis guru.
Akio Toyoda's father Shoichiro Toyoda still serves as an honorary chairman in Toyota's senior board. Though Akio did reveal that his relationship with his father is a complicated yet difficult one, but he does draw much advice and direction from his father. The position of an honorary chairman is a typical Japanese way of showing gratitude to retiring senior members of the company who have contributed much. They still enjoy various perks from the company though they no longer have any active duty. Carlos Ghosn, the head of the Renault-Nissan alliance have previously mentioned that he frowns at such practices as he considers it a waste of resources and complicates decision making processes. Honorary positions were one of the first things Carlos Ghosn culled when he came onboard the then ailing Nissan Motor Co.
Outgoing President Katsuaki Watanabe has been blamed within Toyota's board for the company's current financial predicament, with record losses in the company's history. Senior members of the board view Watanabe's adoption of Western style expansionist policies have made the company veered away from the true Toyota Way and Kaizen guiding philosophies that forms much of the Toyota's foundation as a company. Watanabe has since been promoted to Vice-Chairman, another Japanese style of providing a senior manager with an honorable "face-saving" exit, but it is a position with very little active management duty.
Akio Toyoda might win many fans, especially enthusiasts to the brand. But his senior managers that work for him might have a difficult time adapting to his style. He has the character and personality one of those bigger than life CEO figures - like Steve Jobs, Carlos Ghosn, Bill Gates and Richard Branson. Personalities like these sometimes are the leaders needed to carry a company out of very trying times, as in the case of Apple and Nissan. But there needs to be a proper succession plan else investors and the public might perceive the company will not be able to run on its own without the charismatic CEO. Steve Jobs was very aware of this when he decided to, for the first time, not to attend MacWorld because he had to go for surgery for his pancreatic cancer relapse.
Akio is walking on a very tight rope because Japanese society and corporate culture is one that values conformity over individual creativity. There is a Japanese saying that the nail that stands out will get hammered down. The main reason why the young Toyoda scion was elected is not so much because of his achievement, but because investors and the board is delusioned with the tried and tested, old guard of Katsuaki Watanabae and his senior team. Couple that with record losses, they are desperate to give the young blood a try. He needs to do a very difficult balancing job of pleasing the established old guard which still wields considerable influence in the company with his unconventional style.
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