Toyota Motor Corp. named its first North American finance chief as Japan's largest automaker seeks cost and efficiency gains through tighter coordination of its U.S. units.
Katsuyuki Kusakawa, senior vice president and treasurer for the U.S. sales company, is now chief financial officer for the region, the automaker said today in an e-mailed statement. Toyota also created information and communications posts for North America.
Toyota is working to rebound from a record loss in its fiscal year that ended in March and a 20 percent U.S. sales drop in 2009, the biggest since 1961. The Toyota City, Japan-based automaker last year named company veteran Yoshimi Inaba to lead improvements in North American operations.
"All these affiliates have grown up over the years, and these are moves made with a goal of enhancing collaboration and efficiency between them," Jim Wiseman, chief communications officer for North America, said in a telephone interview. "We're not changing the multicompany structure. There will be no significant relocation of people."
Wiseman's post is one of the new regional positions, after he was named North American group vice president for communications last month. Duties of Barbra Cooper, chief information officer at the U.S. sales company, also were expanded across the region.
Unlike in Japan, Europe and China, the automaker's North American operations are managed by three companies: Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. in Torrance, California; Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc. in Erlanger, Kentucky; and Toyota Motor North America Inc. in New York, the holding company that also handles corporate affairs and investor and government relations.
Kusakawa and Cooper will report directly to Inaba.
Bloomberg reported in November Toyota might reorganize North American operations by shifting some duties and positions from California to units in lower-cost parts of the U.S., citing people familiar with the matter who declined to be identified because the plans weren't public.
