Toyota Picks New CEO for Its U.S. Operations

* Shinji Sakai, a 30-year veteran of Toyota Motor Corp., will succeed Yuki Togo as president and chief executive of the firm’s Torrance-based U.S. operations, the auto maker said.

Togo, 67, will become chairman of Toyota Motor Sales USA.

Yale Gieszl was named executive vice president, succeeding Bob McCurry, who was named vice chairman. Gieszl, 50, will oversee sales and marketing for Toyota, which makes two passenger cars and a pickup truck in North America; the Lexus division, which imports luxury cars from Japan, and Toyota Industrial Equipment, which builds forklifts in Columbus, Ind.

Sakai, 55, named Robert A. Best, 60, to succeed Gieszl as group vice president for finance and administration.

The moves, effective immediately, complete changes that Toyota Motor Sales announced in early May.