Lexus president Koji Sato will replace the 66-year-old Toyoda in April.
NVlaar
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wow don't know how I feel about this. I like Akio.
NVlaar
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Toyota's Akio Toyoda to step down as CEO and president
Lexus chief Koji Sato, 53, to take over on April 1; Toyoda to become chairman
asia.nikkei.com
Wasn't he in charge of Lexus already?
Gecko
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Koji Sato, yes. He seems passionate about Lexus which is what Akio lacked, so I'm hoping this will be an upgrade for the circle L.
It could be a positive thing because Akio Toyoda was firmly "Toyota First". For quite a long period Toyota had better newer products than Lexus. He also personally called for the cancellation of GS and instead expanded the Crown to a full sub-brand. I believe the Crown sub-brand is stealing a lot of resources from Lexus itself. The Crown crossover is two years ahead of ES redesign. The Crown sedan is what the GS could have been. There is now even rumored Crown Coupe/Convertible while RC is almost definitely cancelled.
Also if he wasn't so critical of the LC-F prototype we could have gotten something like a LC750 FSP before the LFR. Yes 650hp isn't sufficient for a LC-F but It's better than waiting half a decade without any flagship F product.
Also if he wasn't so critical of the LC-F prototype we could have gotten something like a LC750 FSP before the LFR. Yes 650hp isn't sufficient for a LC-F but It's better than waiting half a decade without any flagship F product.
Gor134
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He probably didn't see it to be an improvement on the LFA in terms of dynamics now that I think about it. If the LC-F increased weight compared to the LC 500, would've been really hard to come near LFA dynamics.
Why would you have hopes that he can improve Lexus if he already was in that role, and now is responsible for Toyota too? If his whole job was fixing Lexus in the last however many years he was in that role he really wasn't so good at his job then? Are you saying Akio was the problem with Lexus?
Gecko
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I think the weight argument for LC F is now moot. Cars are heavier than they've ever been and nobody seems to care. When the RC F came out, it was shamed as being an overweight pig. Now it's lighter than the M4 and being under 4k lbs is considered lithe.
Same for LC/LC F. LC 500 is 4,200 lbs... LC F would have been what, 4,500? Trading one V8 for another shouldn't be much of a weight penalty, so the difference comes in brakes, braces and cooling? Not much weight at all and not far off M8 and others.
Same for LC/LC F. LC 500 is 4,200 lbs... LC F would have been what, 4,500? Trading one V8 for another shouldn't be much of a weight penalty, so the difference comes in brakes, braces and cooling? Not much weight at all and not far off M8 and others.
Gecko
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Koji Sato became President of Lexus International in 2020 -- Akio has been leading Toyota Motor Co since 2009. Akio has had plenty of time and opportunity to focus on Lexus and has not.
Sato was the chief engineer of the LC 500, the single most impressive Lexus product over the last 10 years IMO. In addition, his time in Lexus leadership has been comparably short and with planning cycles and change, I wouldn't expect that we start to see Sato's influence in new Lexus products until 2023-2024+. The only car we can really judge Sato by is the LC 500 and it's Lexus best. Akio could have turned over the entire lineup two and a half times by now if he cared about Lexus -- he never did.
Gor134
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And the M4 is still lighter than the RC F, only heavier in it's AWD form. And even the new M4 is being shamed for being very heavy, despite how fast it is.
I agree that weight isn't as huge of a deal nowadays.. but if they're benchmarking their own LFA instead of the M8 is where this issue arises.
Even though Koji Sato was promoted to president of Lexus in 2020, Akio Toyoda still had final say on all/any future Lexus models.
That's why it wouldn't make sense as LC-F. But as a LC750 FSP it would be perfectly sufficient.
Morizo was being unreasonable to expect supercar performance out of a GT. Super cars in this class have 50% higher power from weight ratio than the hypothetical 2ton 650hp LC-F. But it matches other GTs pretty well.
Gor134
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Yeah I agree. They should've fished out the FSP for this.
bogglo
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IMO like i posted in the other thread this could be the move TMC has needed all along. Like it was mentioned above if Toyoda did not agree and fight for cars like the LC for example Koji Sato would have been unable to make it the reality it is.
The Good thing about this move is that we now have the guy that engineered the LC and also was president of the team that brought the Supra, Corolla, Yaris, and 86 to the market in recent time as CEO and the guy that gave the green light, as the Chairman of the board (Chairman of the bean counters).
This makes me optimistic matter of fact I wish this happened like 4 years ago before the EV craze hit the next level.
The Good thing about this move is that we now have the guy that engineered the LC and also was president of the team that brought the Supra, Corolla, Yaris, and 86 to the market in recent time as CEO and the guy that gave the green light, as the Chairman of the board (Chairman of the bean counters).
This makes me optimistic matter of fact I wish this happened like 4 years ago before the EV craze hit the next level.
MichaelL
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I agree. Desperately needed!