Finance chief Kenta Kon to take the helm in April as automaker cites need for faster decision-making despite tariff pressures.

Toyota on Friday announced the appointment of a new chief executive as it raised its profit and sales forecasts for the current fiscal year, even as US tariffs weighed on earnings.

Current finance chief Kenta Kon will take over from Koji Sato on April 1, ending Sato’s three-year tenure at the helm, the Japanese auto giant said.

The leadership change is aimed at speeding up decision-making, Toyota said, as it navigates a rapidly shifting business environment.

Alongside the announcement, Toyota said it now expects net profit of 3.57 trillion yen, or $22.8 billion, for the year ending in March. While that would represent a 25.1 percent drop from a year earlier, it is well above the 2.93 trillion yen previously forecast.

The automaker said the upward revision came despite the impact of newly imposed US tariffs during the fiscal year. “We have reduced the extent of the profit decline by implementing cost reductions and marketing efforts,” Toyota said.

Sales are now expected to rise 4.1 percent year on year to 50 trillion yen, a slight upward revision from earlier projections. Operating profit is forecast at 3.8 trillion yen, up from the previous estimate of 3.4 trillion yen.

However, Toyota noted that profits fell in the September to December quarter despite higher sales, largely due to tariff-related cost increases.

The forecast update follows last month’s announcement that Toyota’s global sales hit a record high in 2025, allowing it to retain its position as the world’s top automaker and widen the gap with German rival Volkswagen.

Growth came despite flat sales in China, a key market where Toyota faces intensifying competition from domestic automakers, including electric vehicle leader BYD.

In the United States, sales rose eight percent despite a 25 percent tariff on Japanese auto exports imposed between April and mid-September, on top of an existing 2.5 percent duty. The US market accounts for nearly a quarter of Toyota’s global sales, though only 1.39 million of the 2.52 million vehicles it sold there in 2025 were produced locally.

Toyota boosted output at its US plants by 10 percent last year, focusing on increasingly popular hybrid models. Still, Japanese automakers have been forced to cut export prices to remain competitive.

CBI News reports that in July, Japan agreed to invest $550 billion in the US economy in exchange for a reduction in auto tariffs from 27.5 percent to 15 percent. Automakers have also faced pressure from the Trump administration to export vehicles made in US factories back to Japan.