This year, a collection of 93 international journalists adjudged Toyota President Akio Toyoda as their 2021 World Car Person Of The Year. The award is one of just six accolades that are presented by the World Car Awards annually.
Toyoda, the acting President and CEO of the Toyota Motor Corporation, is indeed an individual unlike no other. He’s already won the hearts of many petrolheads, showing a keen passion for motorsports and announcing on several occasions that Toyota should not be known for making boring cars.
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But the awards committee delved deeper before honoring Toyoda. Known for his charismatic nature, he has dedicated many years towards bringing the Toyota brand to where it is right now. He managed to keep Toyota profitable amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, thus protecting jobs worldwide. According to the panel, his guidance allowed the company to keep its composure during difficult times and maintain a constant development for the connected, autonomous, shared, and electric era, as well as initiate the construction of the Woven City, Toyota’s real-life prototype city of the future. This was all achieved whilst spending hours behind the wheel as an active motorsports driver himself.
After receiving this award, Toyoda’s first priority was to recognize his employees: “On behalf of all 360,000 Toyota team members around the world, thank you for this tremendous honor! If you don’t mind, however, I would like to change this award from car person of the year to car people of the year.” He humbly acknowledged the combined effort of his global employees, labeling himself a lucky and grateful CEO.