Toyota Motor has named Kenta Kon as its next chief financial officer on Tuesday and stated it would scrap executive vice president (EVP) roles as part of a drive to reorganize the company’s structure, enhance production systems and cut costs.
Kon, who is presently chief accounting officer, will take on the automaker’s No. 2 position in April, the automaker stated.
Under the new structure, Toyota stated it would scrap its six EVP positions, first introduced at the company in 1982, with present EVP roles becoming chief operating officer responsibilities. Four of the six EVPs will largely keep their current roles without the EVP title.
It is recent in a series of structural modifications at Toyota, one of the world’s largest automakers, which is attempting to simplify its operations to become more nimble to compete with competitors in developing electric vehicles, self-driving vehicles and other new technologies.
“I have judged that it is necessary for me to directly communicate with the leaders of the next generation and to boost the amount of time for sharing our concerns, by further decreasing the number of layers of management,” President Akio Toyoda stated.
EVPs Didier Leroy and Moritaka Yoshida would resign from their posts, according to the automaker. Leroy will preserve his position as Europe chairman, and stay on as a company director through June.
Present CFO Koji Kobayashi will preserve his role as chief risk officer.
