Member of Toyota's founding family to take helm

• Source: Xinhua
• [15:07 June 23 2009]
• Comments

Akio Toyoda, Toyota Motor Corp. executive vice president and a member of the company's founding family, is set to assume the presidency of the world's leading carmaker Tuesday, replacing Katsuaki Watanabe, the Kyodo News reported.

After approval at a general shareholders meeting, the appointment is expected to be formalized at a board meeting later in the day.

Toyoda, 53, the eldest son of Toyota Motor Honorary Chairman Shoichiro Toyoda, will take over at a time when the company is struggling with huge losses amid an auto sales slump due to the global economic downturn.

Toyota fell into the red in the year that ended March 31, with a group net loss of 436.9 billion yen, a reversal from a record-high profit of 1.72 trillion yen logged in the previous year.

It also registered the first operating loss in 71 years in the same fiscal year.

To counter the crisis, Toyota decided to slash its annual dividend payment and pay no bonuses to board members.