World’s largest automaker backs family heir Toyoda as chairman amid $33 billion supplier buyout and strong African sales

Toyota Motor Corp. shareholders have backed Akio Toyoda’s continued grip on the world’s top-selling automaker, re-electing the founding-family heir as chairman as the company pursues a $33 billion supplier buyout and leans on resilient sales in Africa.

• Akio Toyoda was re-elected as chairman of Toyota, reinforcing the founding family's influence as the company pursues a $33 billion supplier buyout.
• Toyota continues to defend its global leadership with a multi-powertrain strategy, combining hybrids, combustion engines, battery EVs, and other technologies.
• Toyota retained its title as the world’s top-selling automaker for the sixth consecutive year, with a record 11.3 million vehicles sold globally in 2025.
• Africa, especially South Africa, provides key market strength and stability for Toyota, as the company navigates increasing competition and regulations in other regions.

The vote, held on Tuesday at Toyota’s annual meeting, marked the first shareholder gathering since Kenta Kon, a former Toyoda secretary, took over as chief executive in April.

It gives Toyota’s leadership fresh backing as the company defends its global lead through a multi-powertrain strategy built around hybrids, combustion engines, battery electric vehicles and other technologies.

The support also comes as Toyoda, grandson of Toyota Motor founder Kiichiro Toyoda, leads a $33 billion effort to take Toyota Industries private. Toyota Industries is one of the automaker’s largest and oldest suppliers.

The deal carries symbolic weight for the Toyota group because Toyota Industries, founded by Sakichi Toyoda in 1926, was the original parent company from which Toyota Motor was spun off in 1937.

Nearly a century later, the proposed buyout would bring the group’s ancestral core closer to the founding family and tighten Toyoda’s influence over the world’s top-selling automaker.

Speaking after the meeting, Kon said Toyota would continue to invest in growth areas, including artificial intelligence, robotics and its “multi-pathway” strategy, which uses different powertrains across markets rather than relying on a single technology.

Toyota keeps global sales crown

Toyota sold a record 11.3 million vehicles globally in 2025, retaining its crown as the world’s top-selling automaker for a sixth consecutive year.

Group sales rose 4.6% from a year earlier. The figure includes Toyota and Lexus vehicles, as well as sales from small-car unit Daihatsu and truck maker Hino Motors.

Toyota’s growth was driven mainly by the United States and Japan, which together accounted for more than two-fifths of the parent company’s sales, but its performance in Africa also showed the durability of its emerging-market strategy.

Hilux anchors Toyota’s African strength

The Toyota Hilux remains one of Toyota’s strongest assets in Africa, where pickups are widely used in commerce, government transport, farming, construction and mining.

Its appeal rests largely on durability, load capacity and road clearance, which are critical in markets where poor roads and heavy-duty use still shape vehicle demand.

Over the years, those strengths have helped the Hilux top continental sales rankings in industry data and remain competitive across several African markets.

Toyota has, in turn, reinforced the model’s position through local assembly in parts of the continent.

In Kenya, Toyota Tsusho expanded production at Associated Vehicle Assemblers in Mombasa in 2019 to include the Hilux, while in Ghana it opened a vehicle assembly plant near Accra in 2021, also starting with the pickup.

Consequently, the strategy has supported Toyota’s reach beyond South Africa, with the Hilux leading or ranking among the top-selling vehicles in Ghana, Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, Senegal and Uganda.

In Ghana, for instance, the pickup returned to the top of the market in 2025 with an 8.2% share, according to BestSellingCarsBlog.

Similarly, in Botswana, it retained the lead in 2024, ahead of the Nissan NP300 and Isuzu KB.

South Africa shows Toyota’s market depth

South Africa remains Toyota’s strongest African market and the clearest measure of its regional depth.

Toyota sold 148,124 vehicles in South Africa in 2025, taking a 24.8% market share, with the Hilux leading its sales at 36,525 units and remaining the country’s best-selling vehicle for a 13th consecutive year.

Toyota’s strength in South Africa extends beyond pickups, with the Corolla Cross selling 22,191 units, followed by the Fortuner with 9,049 units and the Hiace with 6,815 units, while the Starlet, Starlet Cross, Urban Cruiser and Vitz also ranked among the country’s top-selling models.

That broad line-up is important for Toyota’s wider strategy, as many African markets still depend on pickups, compact cars, taxis, SUVs and hybrids even as electric-vehicle competition rises in China, Europe and other major markets.

For Kon, Toyota’s African performance provides a buffer as he takes charge of a company facing pressure from Chinese electric-vehicle makers, tighter emissions rules and governance scrutiny in Japan.

It also supports Toyota’s argument that regions will move towards electrification at different speeds, keeping petrol, diesel, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, battery electric vehicles and other powertrains relevant for years.