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Toyota COO Jim Lentz will be getting a new role – CEO of Toyota Motor Sales North America. The announcement was buried in a press release announcing other management changes at Toyota’s stateside operations.
Lentz is the first American to occupy this post, a significant development that was given scant mention the in the press release. The focus appeared to be the appointment of Shigeki Terashi as President and COO of Toyota Motor North America, the holding company that oversees Toyota’s American operations. Lentz became known for his public defenses of Toyota during their unintended acceleration scandal in 2009 and 2010.
15 Comments on “Jim Lentz Named CEO Of Toyota Motor Sales North America, First American Appointed To Post...”
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So… congrats Jim?
Is there more here, are we to read between the lines and deduce they finally trust an American to run NA operations?
You just answered your own question. I asked one of my usual sources about this and their reply was “Long overdue. It will take [major Japanese automaker] another decade to do this”.
Is “Toyota Motor Sales” a North American thing, or is it a global thing?
North America
So in the eyes of Tokyo, it seems North American Toyota’s as a product have become so Americanized it makes sense to put an American in charge. Speaking as someone who admired the resilience of the 80/90s Toyota/Lexus design, (LS400 specifically) it makes little sense to me to ever purchase their products in the future if they are blandly similar to domestics. What made the Japanese revolution work is they were better and they were different. Can we really say either is still true?
28-cars-later, I totally agree. I’ve owned 6 Toyota’s so far (still own 3) and none of them were built after 1996. Not because I don’t have the cash to buy one, but because I really dislike the new Toyota’s. I like Corolla’s (because they are honest, reliable and efficient vehicles), but I couldn’t ever get myself to buy a 2003+ model.
Toyota is doing pretty OK so far in 2012 so IMHO, congrats, now can we have the FUCKING SUPRA ALREADY
It will never happen.
Well, how many American CEOs in the Japanese car industry do you know?
How many japanese CEOs in the american car industry do you know?
Wasn’t Mark Fields the CEO of Mazda for awhile?
And while we’re at it, the CEOs of Ford when they had a controlling interest in Mazda (1996-2009): William Clay Ford Jr and Alan Mullaly.
first american as head of toyota us you say – what about jim press? he was even on the board of toyota in japan before he spiralled downwards with chrysler.
Indeed. It still baffles me why Jim Press would leave Toyota, a stable, well-respected company, to join one of the biggest losers in the industry.
money. lots of money
Congratulations to Mr. Lentz and his family. They must be proud.