Toyota Replaces Ailing President With Top Exec

Toyota Motor Corp. announced a shake-up Thursday in the top tiers of management, replacing ailing President Tatsuro Toyoda with Executive Vice President Hiroshi Okuda.

The move will put Japan’s largest auto maker in the hands of a non-member of the Toyoda family for the first time in nearly three decades.

Toyoda’s declining health was seen as the main reason behind the shake-up, which had been expected for some time. Toyoda, who has been hospitalized for the past six months, will become vice chairman, a largely ceremonial post.

“I think they were very satisfied (with Toyoda), but there had to be somebody at the helm,” said Enda Clarke, an analyst at Kleinwort Benson in Tokyo.

The company has said Toyoda was being treated for high blood pressure, but some analysts speculated earlier he had suffered a stroke.

Completing the changes, Senior Managing Director Iwao Okijima was to become an executive vice president. The changes are to be formally ratified by Toyota’s board of directors later this month.