Associated Press
Toyota's incoming president to race Lexus
By YURI KAGEYAMA , 04.24.09, 07:16 AM EDT

Toyota Motor Corp. said incoming president Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the company's founder, will be a driver on the automaker's team in a 24-hour endurance race in Germany.

Toyoda, 52, was tapped as president in January - an appointment viewed as symbolic of the Japanese automaker's determination to ride out the global slump and what is expected to be its first annual loss in nearly 60 years.

The grandson of Toyota founder Kiichiro Toyoda is one of four drivers on a Toyota team entering the May 21-24 Nurburgring 24-hour endurance race in Germany, company spokesman Paul Nolasco said Friday.

The race is an opportunity to test the reliability of products in development, and Toyoda will be racing in the Lexus LF-A, which also entered the same race last year, he said.

"It's designed to be a sporty car. We put our prototype to a test," said Nolasco.

Last year, the Lexus LF-A finished seventh in its class, and was 121st among 150 cars that finished from 216 vehicles that started.

The U.S.-educated Toyoda is the first founding family member to take helm at the world's biggest automaker in 14 years. A return to its roots is considered an effective way to rally the rank and file, as well as its dealers, during troubled times.

The founder's family name is spelled with a "d," but the company's name was changed to read Toyota as that was considered luckier according to Japanese superstition, Toyota says.

Toyoda had long been seen as eventually leading the company, but a president in his 50s is relatively young and rare at a major Japanese company. Toyoda, a celebrity in Japan dubbed Toyota's "prince," is disarmingly approachable and has appeared before reporters in a racing outfit.

Toyoda has worked jobs spanning Toyota's global empire, including its China operations, Japan sales and the Internet business. Earlier, he served as vice president at New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., a Fremont, California-based joint venture between Toyota and General Motors Corp giving him experience in the key U.S. market.

His appointment as president must be confirmed by a shareholders meeting in June, which is widely expected to endorse the board's selection of Toyoda.