INTERVIEW: Toyota Chief Vows to Enhance Ties with Biz Partners

Chino, Nagano Pref., July 21 (Jiji Press)–Toyota Motor Corp. President Kenta Kon has vowed to advance collaboration with business partners to reinforce the leading Japanese automaker’s earning power through cost reductions and other measures. “There is still room for improvement,” such as shortening the vehicle delivery time and reviewing the types of parts and components, Kon, who has inspected factories, sales outlets and parts makers since he took office in April, said in a recent interview. In fiscal 2025, which ended in March, Toyota’s consolidated sales topped 50 trillion yen for the first time. In contrast, its operating profit fell for the second straight year. Toyota’s break-even point in terms of the number of vehicles sold is “slightly high,” Kon said, underlining the need to lower the figure. “Vehicle designs that are easy for suppliers to produce and ways of placing orders are important,” he said, showing Toyota’s readiness to offer cooperation. Specifically, Kon said that suppliers are making efforts to survive competition amid uncertain outlooks as well as constraints in light of labor force and plant capacities. “We will continue working with them to make designs, lower production costs and improve product quality.” “The concept of local production for local consumption is important,” Kon said of Toyota’s global production system. Toyota has already decided to shift the production of its Tacoma pickup truck, which is popular among U.S. consumers, from Mexico to the United States. Meanwhile, Kon indicated the company’s stance to continue making three million vehicles a year in Japan to help keep related domestic industries afloat. “We hope to maintain the current levels,” he said. It would be difficult to develop self-driving technology to reduce traffic accidents to zero unless humans, vehicles and infrastructure are mobilized in an integrated way, Kon said. In addition to the development of systems and vehicles, a mechanism to reflect information obtained through cameras and sensors in actual driving is necessary, Kon stressed. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]