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TOKYO : Shareholders of Japanese automaking giant Toyota Motor Corp. on Friday approved the appointment of the first foreign senior managing director, James E. Press, the company said.
The 60-year-old American president of Toyota's US unit has worked for the company for more than three decades and is credited for much of the automaker's North American success, which contrasts sharply to the woes of US rivals such as General Motors and Ford.
The appointment of Press - who started his career at Ford - was announced in April and approved by shareholders meeting at Toyota's base of central Aichi prefecture.
It is part of an effort by the Japanese giant to make its top management more international as it grows ever more reliant on overseas sales.
Toyota, which overtook General Motors as the world's best-selling automaker in the quarter to March, has been expanding its production in the United States to try to avert potential trade friction with Washington.
While disgruntled auto workers are no longer attacking imported cars in parking lots, Toyota has still taken some flack as its sales overtake those of DaimlerChrysler and Ford.
Press told reporters in Detroit in March that Toyota was not afraid of a serious backlash.
"The reality is this environment is quite different than when we consider the word backlash in the context of the past," he said at the time.
He started his career at Ford but left after less than two years, joining the Japanese automaker in 1970 when it was far behind the Big Three in the United States, and worked his way up the corporate ladder. - AFP/de
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