By Goodluck Ikiebe
The Chief Executive Officer of Toyota and grandson of the founder of the car company, Akio Toyoda, says that he is stepping down as head of the auto giant.
He believes that at 66 years, he is too old to understand the consumer sentiments of this generation.
Many were shocked because in the last 14 years, he took the company from a highly conservative, cautious but quality conscious company, to a bold, ambitious, trendy and adventurous one.
Reinventing the brand to appeal to younger consumers.
When he took over as CEO, he had a tough time convincing Toyota engineers that he can run the company because first, he has a law and business background.
Secondly, he was not a top race driver.
He was told by members of the board that Toyota engineers would not respect him and would not take his ideas serious unless he trains as a top race driver, which will provide him with background knowledge of how a car engine works.
He obeyed, and started.
