F&I Management & Training

The New Year has brought a new chairman for Toyota GB PLC, Naoya Taniguchi. Mr Taniguchi took up his post on 5 January, replacing Shimpei Kobayashi, who has returned to Japan to take up a new assignment within Toyota Motor Corporation. Mr Taniguchi, 53, has a long and distinguished career with Toyota, having joined the company in 1978 after graduation from Hitotsubashi University's Department of Commercial Science. In 1985 he moved to the European division to take charge of Toyota operations in Germany and Denmark and in 1991 joined Toyota Deutschland as co-ordinator in charge of sales, marketing and public relations. Mr Taniguchi returned to TMC in Japan from 1995 to 2001, then took the post of Group Vice President of Toyota Motor Sales USA, co-ordinating mid to long-term product strategy, the Scion brand, PR and strategic planning. He joins Toyota GB from TMC's Global Marketing Division, where he was Brand Planning General Manager. Mr Taniguchi is married and has a 23-year-old daughter. His move to the UK will give him more opportunities to pursue his hobbies of European history and church architecture and playing golf.

DATED: 16.01.09

FEED: AW