Toyota Motor North America announced, effective July 1, 2023, Shinichi Yasui, executive vice president, Toyota Motor North America, Research & Development, will be appointed chief project leader, Hydrogen Factory at Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC).
TMC’s Hydrogen Factory is a newly established organization dedicated to accelerating customer-focused product development and production of fuel cells and hydrogen-related products. The goal is to align business strategy, development, production, sales and marketing under one roof to enable faster decision-making, stronger alliances with rapidly expanding markets, including China and Europe, and the promotion of sustainable commercialization.
A 35-year Toyota veteran, Yasui has been a member of Toyota’s North American executive committee since 2017, leading the company’s R&D operations in the region. Yasui joined TMC in 1988 as an engineer, developing air bag systems, seats and seat belts. Over the years he held a variety of engineering and product planning roles and in 2013, became chief engineer for all Corolla models. In 2016, he was appointed executive general manager of product planning at Tic’s Mid-Size Vehicle Company before becoming exec-utive vice president at TMNA.