Chairman Toyoda

I first declared our transformation into a mobility company in 2018.

At the time, people were starting to talk about cars shifting from internal combustion engines to battery electric vehicles, from human-driven to autonomous, and from hardware to software.

The following year, in 2019, at a Toyota Home shareholders’ meeting, my father, Shoichiro, shared these thoughts:

“I built a single-story concrete house to make it fire-resistant. I chose a single story
because I dreamed of traveling from the rooftop in a flying car.”

This was a dream that Kiichiro spoke about many times to my father.

Today, we tend to quickly divide things into automobiles or housing, by business category. But in the dream that Kiichiro envisioned back then, there were no such divisions.

What was Kiichiro trying to create?

I believe it was a future mobility society — a “ba,” a place.

To make that happen, he first launched the automobile business. At the same time, he knew he would have to take on housing, aviation, and shipping.

That is why, I believe, Kiichiro entrusted the housing business to my father, Shoichiro.

In time, Kiichiro’s dream became Shoichiro’s dream.

And then, more than half a century later, in 2018, I declared Toyota’s transformation into a “mobility company.”

I can’t help but feel that Kiichiro was speaking through me.

Looking back now, that may have been the moment when I received the baton as a successor.

I became president in 2009.

From there, as we faced and overcame many crises, the number of like-minded partners gradually grew.

Over the course of nine years, I believe I finally became a true successor.

Right now, President Sato, and the rest of the executive team, are experiencing for the first time what it means to steer the company. They feel how difficult it is. They struggle. They keep pressing on. That is the reality, I believe.

Can we turn this struggle into action? This is a defining moment.

I hope you will see this, too, as an important “ba” for growth, and give it your best.

Chairman Toyoda

I will turn 70 this year.

And I have become more aware of the time I have left. It is not much.

With that in mind, as Chairman, I narrowed down what I must do to three things.

First, to develop people so that Toyota does not become just an ordinary company.
Second, to think about how the Group as a whole should be.
Third, to promote cultural activities.

Above all, the first. While I am Chairman, to develop leaders who can ensure that Toyota continues to be truly Toyota, even after I am gone. That, I believe, is my most important mission.

Why am I talking about this here, today, in this “ba”?

It is because each of you listening today has chosen, of your own will, to be here.

The future is something we create together.

The automotive industry is an industry built together.

And Toyota, too, is a company that has been built together.

But each of us is different.

I believe that each person has their own “ba” in their respective genba and responsibilities.

For some, it is a place to take on challenges. For others, a place to support. For others still, a place to compete.

For me, the genba, the plants, the market, and the sales floor — all of these were my main battlegrounds, and at times, they were places of intense struggle.

Even so, I have always wanted to give the next generation a “ba” for both challenge and action.

I have pursued this with single-minded determination.

This year as well, the executive members and I will strive to create a “ba” — a place where people can come together, take on challenges, make mistakes, struggle, try again, and in the end, say “thank you” to one another. That is the kind of “ba” we are determined to create.

And for each of you, I hope this year will be one in which you cultivate yourself and continue to grow in your own “ba.”

Everyone, we appreciate your continued support this year as well.
Thank you.