While Akio Toyoda may have some controversial opinions about electric vehicles, there’s no denying that he is a genuine car enthusiast who loves driving. He also happens to be very handy behind the wheel.
Toyoda has quite a lot of racing experience and has even competed at the 24 Hours of Nurburgring. Were it not for him, cars like the GR Yaris, arguably the hot hatch of the moment, might have not existed and the Japanese automaker wouldn’t be as focused on motorsport as it is.
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Earlier this month, Toyoda was involved in a promotional event in Tokyo where it previewed its new WRC car and announced its complete motorsport plans for the 2022 calendar year. Jari-Matti Latvala will serve as the team principal for Toyota’s WRC team and he jumped behind the wheel of the new GR Yaris Rally1 WRC car, performing some seriously impressive donuts in the all-wheel drive rally car.
Soon after, Toyoda joined in on the action, drifting a road-going GR Yaris equipped with various rally-inspired parts around a set of cones. At one stage, Toyoda can be seen waving one of his hands out of the window while doing donuts, showing just how much car control he has.
Akio Toyoda has served as the president of Toyota since mid-2009 and while he has served the company well, he has come under fire from some in recent months by lobbying to delay the market’s transition to electric vehicles due to his belief that hydrogen-powered cars should be the future.