Toyota's CEO Calls for Unity: Is the Twilight of Japan's Auto Industry Just Beginning?

In Minato Ward, Tokyo, inside the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) conference room, Akio Toyoda sat before a report. The first page had no charts, no data, just one line of bold text: The 2024 global auto sales champion comes from China. For the first time in 25 years, Japanese automakers had surrendered the throne. As former Toyota CEO and current JAMA chairman, Toyoda's expression was vague in media reports, but his statement to Automotive News hit the automotive sector on the Tokyo Stock Exchange like a thunderclap: "I hope the seven major Japanese automakers reduce competition and increase cooperation."