The world’s largest automaker, Toyota, appoints a new CEO: Current CFO Kenta Kon will take over from Koji Sato, who will join the board of directors. The personnel changes will take effect on April 1, 2026.
The 57-year-old Kenta Kon has been with the Toyota Group since 1991. He built his career in the finance department before being appointed Executive Vice President for Research and Development in 2019.
A year later, he became Chief Financial Officer and subsequently joined the board of directors. He later took charge of the startup Woven by Toyota, focusing on software and high-tech, before returning as the group’s CFO in 2025.
Executive Vice President Yoichi Miyazaki (62), who already had the job of CFO previously, will become CFO again.
Reasons unclear
Why Group CEO Koji Sato (56) is moving into the new role of Vice-Chairman and Chief Industrial Officer just three years after taking over the CEO position from Akio Toyoda remains unclear for now. According to Toyota, Sato (the engineer) will focus on the broader industry, including Toyota, while Kon (the finance guy), as President and CEO, will be responsible for internal corporate leadership.
In a statement, Toyota emphasised the need for accelerated, practical initiatives to foster industry collaboration and strengthen Japan’s automotive sector’s international competitiveness. In this context, Sato, as Chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, will play a key role.
Despite a good report
Under Koji Sato’s leadership, Toyota’s performance has improved. The company’s share price more than doubled during his tenure. According to the quarterly report released alongside the personnel announcement, Toyota has raised its profit forecast for the fiscal year ending 31 March 2026 to 3.57 trillion yen (19.3 billion euros), up from the previous estimate of 2.93 trillion yen.
The company is targeting sales of 11.3 million vehicles across all brands, representing a 2.6 percent increase from the 11.01 million units sold in the previous fiscal year.
A numbers guy
Kenta Kon is a minivan-loving, money-focused, numbers guy who says his mission is to create the war chest for the world’s biggest carmaker to take on ‘courageous challenges’ in an industry under siege by unprecedented change. Kon said he wants Toyota Motor Corporation to be more agile in adapting to new technologies, but the company also needs to bankroll that risk.
“I’m a guy that loves numbers, I’m a guy that loves money, Kon said at a new conference last Friday in which the company appointed him to succeed Koji Sato. “I always think about money and creating a financial foundation, so we can make good cars,” he added.
Kon is a longtime confidant of Chairman Akio Toyoda. He helped develop Toyota’s new profit-generating trajectory by selling services and add-ons to its massive pool of some 150 million vehicles currently on the road. An approach that has reduced reliance on new-vehicle sales and created a massive revenue feedback loop through parts, accessories, used vehicles, connected services, and finance.
“My role will be establishing this good profit structure, this foundation, so that the people can take courageous challenges,” Kon added. “I want to use that money for the future of Toyota.”
Kon said he learned lessons about thinking outside the box during his time at Woven by Toyota, the technology-focused unit tasked with designing the company’s next-gen software-defined vehicles. “If we try something new, we tend to be bound by past precedents, but if it’s a new challenge, we need to take a different perspective and a different approach.”
Sato: industry-wide duties
Toyota also described the management change as reducing the workload on Sato, who took over as chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) in January. Sato has also served as vice chairman of Keidanren, Japan’s most powerful business association, since last May. The change and new title will position Sato to focus on industrywide matters.
“Improved coordination among Japanese automakers in far-flung fields such as software, semiconductors, supply chain management, and logistics is a top priority for Jama,” Sato stated. “So is reaching beyond the automotive sector to build bridges to the high-tech sectors.” Sato added he will take on these tasks in his new role.
