Toyota axes UK marketing director
Toyota GB has scrapped the role of marketing director as part of a senior management restructure designed to enable faster decision making.
John Thompson, Toyota GB marketing director will move to a different role within parent company Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan.
In a move designed to cut out a level of management involved in decision making, Toyota GB is introducing the new general manager of sales operations, which will sit alongside the existing vehicle marketing, marketing communications, network development and fleet and remarketing roles reporting directly to recently appointed commercial director Matt Harrison.
Richard Balshaw, current sales director will replace Belinda Poole as director of its luxury car division, Lexus. Poole will move to Toyota Motor Europe.
The company is also cutting the Toyota GB director of sales role in a bid to streamline the sales and marketing function.
Jon Williams managing director of Toyota GB says: “These changes are part of our ongoing efforts to develop a leaner and more efficient customer focus. We are taking this opportunity to increase our speed of decision making and to improve the empowerment of the organisation.”
The GB restructure is part of a wider overhaul of Toyota’s global strategy by revealed last week that promised to hand more control to regional divisions.
