Toyoda is the great-grandson of the founder of Toyoda Automatic Loomworks, Sakichi Toyoda, and grandson of Toyota Motor Corporation founder Kiichiro Toyoda. He was born 3 May 1956, in Nagoya to Shoichiro Toyoda and Hiroko née Mitsui. Toyoda's family line have long dominated the upper management of the family businesses since the days his carpenter-farmer great-great-grandfather, Ikichi Toyoda, taught his son fabrication and carpentry. Akio Toyoda was the chief contender for the family business when Katsuaki Watanabe was reassigned as Vice-Chairman in the wake of the quality control crisis. Toyoda completed his undergraduate work in law at Keio University in Japan and was awarded his Masters of Finance at Babson College in Massachusetts. He would join the family business in 1984.
Toyota
Grandson of the company founder, in 2000, Toyoda joined Toyota's board of directors. In 2005, Toyoda was promoted to the position of executive vice president. In January 2009, it was announced that Toyoda was chosen as the forthcoming president of the company. On 23 June 2009, he was confirmed as the new president, along with four new executive vice presidents and eight new board members. The previous president and CEO Katsuaki Watanabe became vice chairman, replacing Katsuhiro Nakagawa. As an avid auto racing fan and driver himself, Toyoda has promoted sports models like the Lexus IS-F and Lexus LF-A at auto races. He has participated as a driver at events like the 2009 24 Hours Nürburgring race employing the pseudonym Morizo Kinoshita. In 2009, he reached the 87th position overall and the fourth position in his class with his LF-A Prototype No. 14. In 2012, he was named Autocar's Man of the Year.
Toyota global recalls and Congressional Statement
In the wake of massive global recalls ballooning to 8.5 million vehicles, Toyoda was invited to testify before the U.S. Congress on 17 February 2010, which he accepted. A week later, he issued a prepared statement to the Congress. He focused on three key issues: Toyota's basic philosophy regarding quality control, the cause of the recalls, and "how we will manage quality control going forward". On 24 February 2010, accompanied by president and COO of Toyota Motor North America, Yoshimi Inaba, Toyoda testified before the House of Representatives' Oversight and Government Reform Committee. As the scion of a family world renown for their contributions to automated manufacturing, the quality control crises personally affected the former Massachusetts student, Toyoda. In his comments he is quoted as being "deeply sorry" and highlighted the relations between Toyota vehicles in the United States and Americans for fifty years.
