Toyota Shareholders Re-Elect Akio Toyoda as Chairman as Automaker Defends Global Lead With Strong African Sales

The founding-family heir secured a fresh mandate as Toyota pursues a $33 billion supplier buyout, while the Hilux pickup anchors the automaker’s performance across African markets from South Africa to Ghana

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.

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, founded by Sakichi Toyoda in 1926—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.

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.

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

South Africa remains Toyota’s strongest African market. 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. The Corolla Cross sold 22,191 units, followed by the Fortuner with 9,049 units.

Analysis by Accra Street Journal noted that Toyota’s African performance provides a buffer as Kon 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 toward electrification at different speeds, keeping petrol, diesel, hybrids, plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles relevant for years.

Source: Accra Street Journal 

Last Updated on June 19, 2026 by Samuel Kwame Boadu

Samuel Kwame Boadu

Samuel Kwame Boadu is a Ghanaian media entrepreneur and storyteller with a passion for amplifying urban voices and uncovering everyday truths. He is the Editor-in-Chief and Founder of Accra Street Journal, a dynamic digital platform dedicated to capturing the pulse of Ghana’s capital—its people, culture, challenges, business, sports and innovations.

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