Toyota chair reclaims support after scandals that hurt last vote
Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda's reelection garnered almost 97% of voted shares during the carmaker's annual meeting, marking a comeback from the record low he saw after a series of regulatory scandals led investors to question the business group's leadership.
Chief Executive Officer Koji Sato was also reappointed to the board, with a 98% tally, the company said in a statement Friday.
The rebound in Toyoda's popularity suggest tacit shareholder approval of how he handled the certification issues, as well as the company's steady performance through an exceptionally hazardous stretch for the global automobile industry. The chairman's reappointment vote was 85% in 2023 — falling below the 90% threshold for the first time in years — and dipped even further to a record low of 72% last year.
"The company still achieved high levels of earnings and profitability, while continuing its commitment to shareholder returns,' said Bloomberg Intelligence senior auto analyst Tatsuo Yoshida. "Shareholders appear to have recognized and appreciated these results.'
At the meeting, which was held on Thursday, no shareholders asked about Toyota's response to US tariffs on imported cars, nor did they question Toyoda's central role in a contentious bid to privatize to Toyota Industries. Earlier this month, the Toyota group launched a ¥4.7 trillion ($32.4 billion) bid to privatize the supplier of auto parts, forklifts and textile looms.
At Tuesday's annual meeting for Toyota Industries, executives spent most of their time fielding questions from individual shareholders who sought an explanation for why the buyout was conducted so abruptly, and why the tender offer fell short of the company's market value.
Shares fell among Japanese carmakers on Friday morning in Tokyo after US President Donald Trump said he might raise auto tariffs to boost domestic manufacturing.
Three years ago, shareholder proposals and proxy advisers had cited concerns over the carmaker's hesitation to ditch combustion engines and embrace the shift to electric vehicles, but an even bigger source of concern can be traced back to revelations in December 2023 of falsified vehicle safety tests at a pair of Toyota units — Daihatsu and Toyota Industries — then half a year later at the carmaker itself.
Toyota pared back production as it sought to recertify affected models in the aftermath, but output has normalized since then, albeit at a lower level.
The company's response to the scandals led a pair of firms that advise large investors — Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services — to vote against Toyoda's reelection in 2024. This year, however, both backed his reappointment.
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