With a new boss, Toyota is turning around, throwing itself into electromobility

The current head of Toyota, Akio Toyoda, was known for his reluctance to bet everything on the electric mobility card, as many other manufacturers do. His successor, Koji Sató, does not share his opinion. According to him, quoted by the British magazine Autocar, the car company will accelerate the development of electric cars of the next generation. The first piece is due to arrive from Lexus, Toyota’s luxury arm, in 2026.

“In order to offer attractive battery electric cars to more customers, we need to streamline the vehicle structure and with a ‘battery electric car first’ mindset, we need to fundamentally change the way we work, from production to sales and service. Lexus will lead this transformation,” says Sató.

At the same time, however, the cars must be built taking into account the needs of the region where they are to be sold. This means, among other things, that the automaker will not completely disdain combustion engines and will continue to offer them in some markets.

All new Toyotas are also supposed to put more emphasis on connectivity. This will be provided by the Arena operating system, which Toyota is developing and, according to James Kuffner, the head of Toyota’s software division called Woven Planet, will introduce within a few years.

Sató’s promotion to CEO of Toyota means, among other things, that he relinquished the leadership of Lexus and Gazoo Racing. The Lexus brand will be taken over by Takashi Watanabe, who until now led the Lexus Electrified project. The Gazoo Racing division will be headed by Tomoya Takahashi, who has been leading vehicle development there until now.