Akio Toyoda: The CEO Who Saved Toyota's Soul

Akio Toyoda is the CEO and then Chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation who championed the company's return to enthusiast car development in the 2010s. Unlike most CEOs of large car companies, Toyoda is a genuine racing driver — he holds a GT3 racing license, competes at the Nürburgring 24 Hours, and has personally driven development prototypes of multiple Toyota performance cars. His influence at Toyota is responsible for the GR brand (Gazoo Racing), the current Supra, the GR86, the GR Yaris, and the GR Corolla — a lineup of modern sports cars that would have been difficult to justify on pure business metrics.

The Pre-Akio Era

Before Akio Toyoda became president of Toyota in 2009, the company's performance car lineup had been quietly dismantled. The Celica GT-Four was gone. The Supra MK4 had been discontinued in 2002. The MR2 was dead. Toyota's portfolio was all Camry, RAV4, and Corolla — good, profitable, efficient cars but with no soul.

Akio Toyoda (grandson of the founder Kiichiro Toyoda) took over during the worst crisis in Toyota's history: the 2009 sudden acceleration recall and lawsuits. He became CEO in June 2009 and spent his first two years in crisis management mode.

The Decision to Build Sports Cars

By 2011, Toyoda had stabilized the company and began pushing for a return to performance car development. His philosophy was explicit: "Toyota needs soul. We need cars that make people smile. Cars that are fun to drive. We can't only make efficient appliances."

This was controversial within Toyota. The company's executive ranks were filled with executives who prioritized profit margins and market share. Sports cars had lower margins than trucks and SUVs, and they were harder to engineer. But Toyoda's position was clear: Toyota's long-term value depended on being seen as a company that loved cars.

The first result was the Toyota 86 (also sold as the Scion FR-S in the US) — a co-developed project with Subaru, launched in 2012. Toyoda personally drove prototypes at Fuji Speedway and provided feedback to the engineers.

The Gazoo Racing Brand

In 2015, Toyota formally established the Gazoo Racing (GR) brand as its performance division. Toyoda was personally involved in the brand's creation. Gazoo Racing wasn't just a marketing label — it was a semi-autonomous performance division within Toyota, with dedicated engineering resources and a focus on motorsport-derived consumer cars.

The GR lineup now includes:

• GR Supra A90: Co-developed with BMW, launched 2019
• GR Yaris: A rally-homologation hot hatch, launched 2020
• GR Corolla: A North American GR Yaris equivalent, launched 2022
• GR86: The second-generation Toyota 86, launched 2022

Personal Racing Career

What makes Akio Toyoda unique among CEOs is that he races. Seriously. He holds a professional racing license. He has competed multiple times at the Nürburgring 24 Hours under the pseudonym "Morizo" (a name used specifically so people wouldn't know a car company CEO was racing). He co-drives with professional drivers and has finished the race several times.

His Nürburgring experience directly informs his engineering feedback on Toyota's sports cars. When he provides input, it's based on real track experience, not boardroom theory.

The Future

As of 2024, Akio Toyoda transitioned from CEO to Chairman of Toyota, with Koji Sato taking over as CEO. However, Toyoda remains heavily involved in the GR brand and continues to race personally. He has stated publicly that the GR lineup must continue to produce cars "for the soul," and he has pushed back against internal Toyota pressure to focus exclusively on electric vehicles at the expense of performance car development.

Legacy

Akio Toyoda is the rare example of a car company CEO who is also a genuine car enthusiast. His legacy will be judged on whether Gazoo Racing and the GR brand survive in the long term. If they do, Toyoda will be remembered as the leader who saved Toyota's enthusiast car programs at a time when every major manufacturer was dismantling them.

For Japanese car enthusiasts, Toyoda is a reassuring figure. He's proof that the corporate leadership cares about driving enjoyment, not just profit margins. The GR86, the new Supra, the GR Yaris — none of these cars would exist without Toyoda's personal advocacy. That's an unusual legacy for any CEO, and it's why his influence on modern Toyota is so significant.