Toyota taps new president as global sales slide 4%

TOKYO -- The widely expected selection of Toyoda, 52, marks the first time a Toyoda family member has taken the helm at Japan's No. 1 automaker in 14 years and comes on the heels of the company announcing that global sales last year fell 4% to 8.972 million vehicles.

Toyoda, an executive vice president, has been groomed for years for his eventual rise. But his appointment comes a bit sooner than some had expected. Chief executives in their 50s are relatively rare in a conservative corporate culture like Japan's that values seniority.

"I am simply determined to do my utmost in being handed this big role of steering Toyota as it faces what has been said to be its worst crisis in a century," Toyoda said in a news conference in Nagoya, near Toyota headquarters, shown on national television.

The founder's family name is spelled with a "d," but the company name was changed to read Toyota as that was considered luckier according to Japanese superstition, Toyota says.

A fresh face, and the mystique of the Toyoda family name, may be exactly what the ailing automaker needs to bring its ranks together and send a strong message of change, analysts said. Company employees say the Toyoda family name holds special meaning, although the Toyodas own only a tiny portion of the automaker's stock.

The maker of the Prius hybrid and Lexus luxury models is forecasting a 150 billion yen ($1.69 billion) operating loss for the fiscal year ending March 31 — its first such red ink in 70 years — as the global economic downturn dings demand for new vehicles.

"Toyota is raising the flag," said Yasuaki Iwamoto, auto analyst at Okasan Securities Co. in Tokyo. "It sends a strong message that moves toward change will be sped up. And that's an important message."

His appointment is symbolic, Iwamoto added, because Toyota tends to be managed by a team of leaders, which will include President Katsuaki Watanabe, who becomes vice chairman with Toyoda's rise.