AutoReporter

Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday that it was proposing to appoint Yoshimi Inaba, a top sales executive recently rehired by the company, to its board in June.

Inaba will return to the United States, a Toyota spokesman at the company’s U.S. sales operations, said Friday. His title and responsibilities will be finalized in June, said Irv Miller, group vice president of environmental and public affairs at Toyota Motor Sales Inc. in Torrance, Calif.

Toyota recently rehired Inaba, who ran Toyota’s U.S. sales operation from 1999 to 2003. In his new position, Inaba is expected to lead a more streamlined U.S. operation, people familiar with the situation have said.

Yukitoshi Funo, now chairman and CEO of Toyota Motor Sales, will return to Japan in June with the title of executive vice president responsible for government and public affairs, overseas sales and projects.

Steve St. Angelo, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky, Toyota’s oldest plant in North America, will become a managing director of the company.

Toyota outlined the management moves in its annual list of board and executive appointments and retirements.

Earlier this year, Toyota announced that Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the company’s founder, will be appointed president, succeeding Katsuaki Watanabe.

The appointments hinge on the approval of shareholders, who will hold their annual meeting in June.

Among the officials retiring are Honorary Chairman Shoichiro Toyoda, the son of the founder, and former Toyota chairman and CEO Hiroshi Okuda.



More...