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The executive currently in charge of Toyota's financials will take over from a keen car enthusiast as the boss of the world's largest auto company, in a surprise switch.
Toyota has swapped its car-enthusiast CEO for a financial specialist to help the world's largest car maker remain on top as Chinese auto giants attempt to steal its turf.
Kenta Kon, Toyota's current chief financial officer, will succeed Koji Sato in the top job at the Japanese car giant on April 1, 2026, after just three years in the role.
Sato was personally chosen by Akio Toyoda, the car-enthusiast grandson of the company founder, to succeed him as CEO and president after a more substantial 14 years leading the company.
Toyota is still comfortably the world's number-one car manufacturer, reporting a record 11.3 million new vehicle sales last year across its brands in 2025, and posting higher profits than many of its rivals.
However, its profit margin over the past nine months has slipped from 10.3 per cent to 8.4 per cent – amid US tariffs – and it is threatened by a fast-changing car industry at the hands of new technology and rising Chinese marques.
Sato will remain within Toyota as vice chairman of the board – below chairman Toyoda – as well as a new chief industry officer role that will see him "focus on the broader industry".
The executive – a passionate car enthusiast, like Toyoda, who rose to CEO from the product engineering side of the business – is also the chairman of Japan's peak body for new-car makers, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA).
In contrast, Kon is a financial specialist, currently Toyota's chief financial officer (CFO), both across the wider business and its Woven division, which develops infotainment and autonomous driving software.
"Within Toyota, improving the company's earning power, which forms the foundation for continuing to make ever-better cars, and lowering the break-even volume are immediate priorities," Toyota said in a media release announcing the CEO change.
"Concrete actions on these issues are urgently required. To achieve this, it is necessary to lead reforms across the entire company, not through functional segmentation but by addressing the value chain as a whole.
"As Toyota's CFO, Kon has been at the forefront of efforts to improve the earnings structure and has also gained cross-functional management experience at Woven by Toyota, Inc."
Announced on Friday afternoon, Japan time, the appointment of Kon – only the 13th Toyota president since the company's founding in 1937 – came as a surprise to many in the car industry, given Sato's short tenure.
Sato's three-year term – April 1, 2023, to April 1, 2026 – is believed to be the shortest in the company's history, undercutting Tatsuro Toyoda's time in the top job from July 1992 to August 1995 by just 14 days.
"Honestly thinking, I think it’s too short," Sato said in remarks quoted by Automotive News, when asked if his term was too short.
"When you think of the speed of the auto industry, the time frame of the past is completely different from today’s three years."
In a press conference on Friday, as reported by Automotive News, Kon said: "I’m a guy that loves numbers. I’m a guy that loves money. I always think about money and creating a financial foundation, so we can make good cars."
He added: "My role will be establishing this good profit structure, this foundation, so that the people can take courageous challenges,” he said. “I want to use that money for the future of Toyota.
"... At Woven, we have a different culture, an agile-development culture. And the way of thinking is slightly different,” Kon said. “This is also something Toyota should be focused on.
"If we try something new, we tend to be bound by past precedents,” Kon said. “But if it’s a new challenge, we need to take a different perspective and a different approach."
Every president of Toyota
Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
