Toyota Motor Corporation Appoints a New CEO to Lead the Company Forward

The world’s largest automaker is undergoing significant personnel changes. On February 6, Toyota Motor Corporation announced the promotion of Kenta Noda from Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to President and CEO, effective April 1. The current President and CEO, Koji Sato, will serve as Vice Chairman and will also take on the newly established role of Chief Industry Officer. The current Chairman, Akio Toyoda, will continue to serve.

Image source: Toyota official website

According to an announcement on Toyota’s official website, under the new organizational structure, Koji Sato will focus on the entire industry, including Toyota, while Kenta Noda will focus on the company itself. The purpose of this role change is to accelerate management speed in response to changes in the internal and external environment and to establish a system that allows Toyota to fully fulfill its mission.

Toyota’s latest forecast predicts that operating profit for the fiscal year ending March 2026 will reach 3.8 trillion yen (approximately $240 billion), an upward revision from the previous estimate of 3.4 trillion yen, but slightly below analysts’ earlier expectation of 3.9 trillion yen.

Official data shows that Kenta Noda was born in 1968, graduated from Tohoku University’s Faculty of Economics in 1991, and joined Toyota Motor Corporation in the same year. He served as Executive Director in 2021, as Representative Director of Toyota’s subsidiary Woven by Toyota in 2023, and as Executive Director of Toyota in 2025.

In terms of performance, Toyota Motor Corporation announced its third-quarter results on February 6, showing net sales of 13.46 trillion yen, an increase of 8.6% year-on-year; net profit of 1.26 trillion yen, a decrease of 43% year-on-year. Toyota expects full-year net sales of 50.00 trillion yen, up from the previous estimate of 49.00 trillion yen; and expects net profit of 3.57 trillion yen, up from the previous estimate of 2.93 trillion yen.