TOKYO — Toyota’s next CEO, Koji Sato, is pledging to “drastically” revamp the carmaker’s slow-going electric vehicle strategy with a new leadership team he just unveiled to reinvent the world’s largest automaker as a mobility company in a challenging new era of industry upheaval.
While announcing the new roster Monday, Sato said the accelerated EV rollout would center around a next-generation platform, expected to arrive around 2026.
The ramp-up comes amid mounting criticism among some investors, environmental activists and EV enthusiasts that Toyota Motor Corp. is falling behind in the global race for battery-powered cars. Sato appointed a new top executive to steer the push, starting from Lexus.
“Lexus is going to have a leading role for that,” Sato said.