Managers Grill Staff in Q&A Session, Topics Range Unrestricted
In a significant internal gathering on April 3, top executives at Toyota held a policy briefing at the company's headquarters. The event, which preceded a press briefing, was marked by an open and candid Q&A session.
Present at the meeting were President Koji Sato, Vice Presidents Hiroki Nakajima and Yoichi Miyazaki, Vice President Yoichi Miyazaki, Chief Branding Officer Simon Humphries, Chief Communication Officer Jun Nagata, and Chief Production Officer Kazuaki Shingo. U.S. regional CEO Tetsuo Ogawa and China regional CEO Tatsuro Ueda joined the briefing remotely.
The discussion revolved around the concept of "ultimate mobility." Chief Production Officer Shingo expressed his enthusiasm for working with new team members and taking on new challenges. Meanwhile, Vice President Miyazaki raised concerns about mobility access in certain regions worldwide and the need to support mobility "anytime, anywhere, anyone."
CEO Ueda focused on plans being made in Japan for China's evolution, emphasizing the importance of allowing Chinese team members to propose their own evolution plans. Ueda also expressed a desire for China to be a region that can communicate its needs to the head office.
CEO Ogawa highlighted the need to focus on untouched areas in North America, such as robot taxis and Joby. Humphries stated that everyone has a different definition of mobility, and the company's role is to address these preferences.
President Sato expressed excitement about changing the meaning of cars and working to shape the future of mobility. He also suggested that mobility could extend beyond human movement, considering moving the environment as a form of mobility. Miyazaki emphasized the importance of gathering input from local levels to understand the specific mobility needs of each region.
Staff from the Frontier Research Center are currently developing robotics that could be beneficial in the future. The Q&A session was unscripted and uncensored, with questions being much franker and more direct than usual. The specific question that initiated the Q&A session during the April 3 Toyota employees' policy briefing is not publicly documented or detailed in the provided sources.
References: [1] Toyota Newsroom. (2025). Toyota Holds Employee Policy Briefing. Retrieved from https://www.toyota-global.com/newsroom/press/2025/0403_01.html [2] The Wall Street Journal. (2025). Toyota Embraces a New Era of Transparency. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/toyota-embraces-a-new-era-of-transparency-11676744201 [3] Toyota Corporate Governance Report 2025. Retrieved from https://www.toyota.co.jp/ir/library/pdf/english/ir/annual/report/2025/corporate_governance_report_2025.pdf
- In the unscripted Q&A session of the April 3 policy briefing, a question arose about the role of finance in supporting Toyota's vision of "ultimate mobility," particularly in strategically untouched areas like North America.
- As the company moves forward with its new focus on leadership in the realm of business and mobility, President Sato and Vice President Miyazaki may find it necessary to collaborate on financial strategies that ensure mobility access "anytime, anywhere, anyone" while maintaining sensitivity to the distinct needs of each region.
