By Chang-Ran Kim, Asia autos correspondent
TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp Executive Vice President Akio Toyoda declined on Thursday to discuss the possibility of his taking over as president after media reports he could fill the post as early as April.
"Today, these two cars are the stars," Toyoda, a grandson of company founder Kiichiro Toyoda, told a news conference to unveil two compact cars under the Toyota and Daihatsu Motor Co brands, when asked point-blank about the reports.
Japan's Asahi Shimbun daily reported on Tuesday that Toyota had decided to name Toyoda, 52, to take over President Katsuaki Watanabe's position in April, with Watanabe slated for the vice-chairmanship. If true, Toyoda would become the first member of the founding family to assume the role since 1995.
The report, which came a day after the world's biggest automaker slashed its annual outlook to forecast its first consolidated operating loss amid tanking global car demand, was matched by no other major Japanese newspaper.
But it has led to a deluge of media reports in the United States.
The Wall Street Journal reported Watanabe would be stepping down due to Chairman Fujio Cho's health problems. Watanabe would replace Cho to relieve him of his duties as chairman of the automaker, as well as a leadership role at the Keidanren, one of Japan's most powerful business lobbies, the paper said.
Cho has had chronic back problems but is otherwise healthy, a Toyota official said. Several people who know the former president, however, said that Cho had been wanting to retire for some time.
Speculation that Akio Toyoda could be next in line for the presidency first surfaced when he was named one of Toyota's eight executive vice presidents in 2005 after successfully steering the company's Chinese operations in his previous role.
Since then, insiders have said the top decision-makers -- Cho, senior adviser and former president Hiroshi Okuda, and honorary chairman and Akio's father, Shoichiro Toyoda -- could opt to allow Akio a few more years by placing Executive Vice President Mitsuo Kinoshita or another top executive at the helm in the interim.
A Toyota spokesman repeated the company's stance that no decision had been reached.
Another Toyota official noted that the company's president usually serves two or three terms of two years each, however, and that Watanabe's relinquishing his post next year would be a natural course of events. If Toyoda takes over in April, however, it would be a departure from the typical management reshuffle in June, timed with the annual shareholders' meeting.
The New York Times and Wall Street Journal both said Kinoshita, who oversees finances, was still a possibility, while BusinessWeek, citing a source close to Toyota, said Toyoda had won the board's support to succeed Watanabe. The magazine said in its online edition that Watanabe had requested to step down several months ago due to personal reasons.
The Wall Street Journal also named Executive Vice President Tokuichi Uranishi and Shuhei Toyoda, also from the founding family and currently president of Toyota affiliate Toyota Boshoku Corp, as dark-horse candidates.
Hit by a global economic crisis that has pounded car demand, Toyota is facing its toughest year in recent memory, forecasting this week a 150 billion yen ($1.66 billion) operating loss for the business year to March 31. Last year, it made a record 2.27 trillion yen.
A source with close ties to Toyota said Watanabe's stepping down would have nothing to do with its dismal performance this year, denying a Bloomberg News report that Watanabe would be resigning to take responsibility for the historic loss.
"No one would be blaming Mr Watanabe," the source said, requesting anonymity. "Decisions are reached by consensus in the board and no one could have prevented what's happening in the industry now."
Watanabe, who took over as Toyota was on its way to unseating General Motors Corp as the world's biggest automaker, had cautioned against complacency from the start, repeating his warning over the years as profits and sales ballooned.
As for Toyoda, although he dodged the question about the succession plan, he opened his remarks on Thursday with an unusual -- if somewhat presidential -- statement.
"Before I start, I would like to apologize for all the trouble that our forecast revision, announced on December 22, has caused.
"We are doing everything we can to overcome these difficult times ... and we ask for your support," he said.
($1=90.50 Yen)
(Editing by Chris Gallagher)
