As America Has New Leader, Toyota Does Too

Like Obama, Toyota's new head has his work cut out for him.

Toyota Names Toyoda President After Annual Sales Drop

(Bloomberg) Toyota Motor Corp., Asia's biggest automaker, named Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the company's founder, as president after reporting the first drop in annual vehicle sales in 10 years.

Toyoda will succeed Katsuaki Watanabe, who will become vice chairman, in June, the automaker said in a statement today. The company's vehicle sales slipped 4 percent to 8.972 million last year, it said separately.

Toyoda, the first member of the founding family in charge since 1995, will inherit a company expecting its first operating loss in 71 years. Still, Toyota may have ended General Motors Corp.'s 77-year run as the world's largest automaker, as the Detroit-based company is on life-support with loans from the U.S. government.