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The best executives don't just zig when everyone else zags, they know exactly the right time to zig. That's how the winner of Newsweek's Auto Disruptor Executive of the Year Akio Toyoda earned this honor. During his 13-year tenure as Toyota Motor Corporation's president, Toyoda didn't always go with the auto-industry flow, instead plotting a separate course for the company that his grandfather founded—one that has enabled Toyota, in a fast-changing, challenging business environment, to retain its spot as one of the world's largest automakers.
While most of the world's auto market is rushing to electric vehicles, Toyoda, a car racer himself, put his company's mission forward as "no more boring cars," rather than battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) first. He utilized the Toyota Racing Development wing of the company to bring excitement to even the traditionally humdrum Camry and Corolla sedans. He was also responsible for the Lexus Driving Signature, a next-level research and development standard meant to enhance performance, handling and ride quality, further elevating the stable, spirited driving that modern Lexus vehicles allow.
"Toyota development engineers know my motto," Toyoda tells Newsweek. "I am there with them when racing or on the test track, and they know I speak their language, so they feel ready to bring their best ideas to the table."
"We are on a journey—focused on the customer and on market conditions in over 170 countries and regions."
He applies the same standard to electric vehicles as to the rest of the company's lineup. "We know that BEVs can be exciting because of how they accelerate," says Toyoda, who announced earlier this year that he would be retiring as president and chief executive to become chairman of Toyota's board, a post he took up on April 1, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. "Our Lexus electrified vehicles are never boring to drive."
Under Toyoda's leadership, Toyota also increased its sports car credibility with partnerships with Subaru and BMW. The two-seat 86 sports car (now GR86) came as Toyota's take on Subaru's BRZ and the reintroduction of the Supra coupe is the product of a partnership with the German automaker. The sport-centric GR Yaris and GR Corolla push the boundaries of what buyers can expect from Toyota even further, taking traditional low-cost commuter cars to a new level.
"For me, playing to win also means doing things differently. Doing things that others may question, but that we believe will put us in the winner's circle the longest," Toyoda said at a dealership meeting in October. "Just like the fully autonomous cars that we are all supposed to be driving by now, EVs are just going to take longer to become mainstream than media would like us to believe."
The focus on new driving capabilities didn't remove Toyoda's focus from fuel economy. In the past 25 years, Toyota has sold 22.5 million electrified hybrid vehicles, equivalent to a 7.5 million BEV reduction in emissions. Today, nearly one out of every four vehicles the company sells in the U.S. is electrified. Toyoda has likened Toyota to a department store with a wide range of powertrains to please the widest range of customers. That array will include hydrogen fuel cell, hybrid, gasoline and 30 BEVs by 2030.
Planning to sell fuel cell vehicles, offering up gasoline, hybrid and BEVs next to each other on dealer lots and saying those plans proudly is a disruptive pattern of behavior that doesn't just stand out in contrast to promises by the company's biggest competitors, it's an acknowledgement of what most of the public knows, and most executives whisper when you get them alone—the world isn't ready to go all-electric.
Planning for the future isn't just about fuel. Under Toyoda's watch, Toyota greenlighted Woven City, a mobility and engineering lab thinly disguised as a live-work-play area, built on the grounds of one of the company's old factories in Japan. Toyoda has run Toyota during one of its most challenging periods. He came on board during the Great Recession and is transitioning the company through the electrification era on the eve of an emissions-free future.
"In retrospect these 13 years have been a period of struggling to survive one day after the next," Toyoda said in January. "I believe that in times of crisis two paths appear before us. One is a path of short-term success or quick victory. The other is a path that leads back to the essential qualities and philosophies that gave us strength. I chose the latter."
"We are on a journey—focused on the customer and on market conditions in over 170 countries and regions. That's why we have a balanced multi-path approach," he tells Newsweek.
"All of us are on a journey toward the unknown. We know that reducing as many emissions as possible as fast as possible means acting today with flexibility for customers today and tomorrow—and beyond," Toyoda says. "The world will not suddenly jump from the present to the future. The future will be created by accumulating past, present and future, from low emission to zero carbon emission choices."
