TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp President Akio Toyoda will announce on March 9 management's vision for where the world's top automaker is headed over the next decade as it turns a corner on its worst ever safety crisis.
Toyota officials said they could not provide any details on the so-called Toyota Global Vision until the presentation, to be made in Tokyo at 4 p.m. (0700 GMT) on March 9. With the recall crisis dissipating, Toyoda had said last month he wanted to outline his corporate vision for 2020, flagging the announcement around spring.
Toyoda's predecessor, Katsuaki Watanabe, had outlined in late 2007 a general direction for the company under Toyota Global Vision 2020 that included the spread of hybrid technology to all models, a vision for next-generation mobility on a community-wide basis, and the commercialization of its humanoid robot business.
It had also included the introduction of spreading its next-generation manufacturing technology to its factories around the world. Last week, Toyota subsidiary Central Motor inaugurated a new factory in Japan packed with the latest production techniques that Toyota hopes to adopt in its other factories.
Toyoda, 55, has kept a low profile with investors since taking the top post in June 2009 as he scrambled to pull the company founded by his grandfather out of the recall mess, and investors have said they are keenly awaiting the announcement of the long-term corporate vision.
The Nikkei business daily reported this month that Toyota would slash the number of directors on its board to 10-15 from 27 to take faster decisions in the face of rising global competition -- a plan that could be part of the long-term vision.
(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim)
