Matthew Harrison has been promoted to head of Toyota Europe, succeeding Johan van Zyl, who will retire from the position. Harrison is currently executive vice president of Toyota Europe.
Van Zyl, 62, a native of South Africa, will retain his post as chairman of Toyota South Africa, the automaker said in a news release Tuesday. He has been president and Toyota Europe CEO since 2015.
The changes take effect April 1.
Under van Zyl, Toyota's sales in the Europe region -- which includes Russia, Turkey, Israel and some central Asian markets -- have grown steadily to surpass 1 million units in 2019, and market share has grown to 6 percent in 2020 from 4.6 percent in 2015.
A hybrid-focused lineup has meant that Toyota has been able to meet increasingly tougher EU CO2 emissions targets.
Toyota Europe recorded 993,113 sales in 2020, a 9 percent decline, outpacing the market in the selling area by 11 percentage points.
As a capstone to van Zyl's tenure, the Yaris small car was named European Car of the Year on Monday.
Harrison's task is to move Toyota beyond full-hybrids to plug-in hybrids and full-electric vehicles.
Toyota Europe plans to launch 10 electric models and five plug-in hybrids by 2025, with a goal of selling 1.4 million vehicles annually by then.
