9:48 AM
We in the U.S. surely know the excitement of a new president to replace one who oversaw an economically crunched country. The same holds true in Japan with the Toyota Motor Corp. The ailing Japanese car company is to promote Mr. Akio Toyoda to the president role, whose past creds include executive vice-president as well as a founding family scion. Current President Katsuaki Watanabe, who has headed Toyota since June 2005, will take on the Sarah Palin role of vice-chairman of the company.
Toyota cut its group operating forecast to a loss of 150 billion yen (S$2.46 billion) for the year to end-March. It made a record profit of 2.27 trillion yen last year.
Like the Royal Family of England, Mr Toyoda is the a grandson of company founder Kiichiro Toyoda. This is the first time in almost 14 years that a member of the founding Toyoda family would hold the company’s presidency
