Toyota boss appeals to mom-and-pop investors

Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota Motor, offered a rare glimpse into his personal life as he made an emotional appeal to thousands of Japan's mom-and-pop investors to invest in the carmaker's future.

Toyota's first major event for retail investors comes as the world's biggest car maker looks to rev up growth again, after years of self-reflection on an aggressive expansion policy that led to lapses in quality.

"I love cars. And I will not let cars become commoditised," Mr Toyoda told a crowd of more than 4,000 investors in Nagoya on Sunday. "Please support Toyota's challenge for the future."

Mr Toyoda has been the face of Japan's best-known company since 2009, leading it through a series of crises including massive recalls in the US and the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan in 2011.

Yet in footage shown during the event, which was webcast live, Japanese people surveyed could not recall Mr Toyoda's full name, and named other chief executives such as SoftBank's Masayoshi Son and Fast Retailing's Tadashi Yanai when asked to identify Japan's business leaders.

In an engaging presentation more akin one by late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs than a typical Japanese investor event, Mr Toyoda sought to close the distance with his consumers. He talked candidly of challenges he faced when he joined Toyota in 1984, when his father, Shoichiro, ran the company, and revealed that he had wanted to be a taxi driver as a child.

"Throughout my company life, it was a constant questioning of who I was as I battled with the various bias people had against me," Mr Toyoda said, as he recalled being seen as a "prince" who had never faced any difficulties in life.

When the recall crisis hit in 2009, he remembered thinking "what a short presidency that was" as he assumed the incident would bring him down.

With the crisis in the rear view mirror the carmaker has focused on profitability and quality, and took an "intentional pause", according to Mr Toyoda, to review its manufacturing process even as it rose to top spot in the global auto market with sales topping 10m vehicles.

Toyota is working to reduce costs and make car production more efficient through a revamped manufacturing plan using more common components among vehicles. Last week, it said it will produce half its vehicles by 2020 using the new platform.

It also plans to lift a freeze on building new plants by the end of next March, following steps to simplify and streamline plant-building. As a result, Mr Toyoda says Toyota now spends 40 per cent less in equipment investments for new plants than it did in 2008.

Shareholders have already benefited, with Toyota expecting to book its second straight year of record profit as a weaker yen boosts exporters' yen-denominated earnings, and sales in the US surge. The stock has risen 74 per cent over the past two years.

"Toyota's strength is our venture spirit that will keep making challenges for the future that is 20, 30 years ahead," Mr Toyoda said. "The path ahead is an unprecedented one but we want to walk that path with our investors."

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