9 Toyota Executives to Retire

NEW YORK — Toyota Motor Corp. on Tuesday said that nine of its U.S. executives plan to retire by the end of the year, sparking speculation that the automaker may be looking to revamp its executive lineup in the midst of an increasingly tough U.S. sales environment.

The retiring executives include Dave Illingworth, senior vice president and chief administrative officer for Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Illingworth, 64, will leave on Jan. 1 after a career of nearly 30 years at the automaker.

Alan DeCarr, group vice president and general manager of Toyota Logistics Services, will retire July 1. Decarr, 56, joined the company in 1971. And Jim Aust, vice president for motorsports and president and chief executive of Toyota Racing Development, will retire on July 1. Aust, 64, joined Toyota in 1987.

Xavier Dominicis, a Toyota spokesman, said the retirements are nothing unusual, noting that several of the departing executives have been with the company for more than 20 years.

"These are scheduled retirements that have been in the works for some time," Dominicis said. "We have a very seasoned bench of executives. There's never a formal changing of the guard here."

On Tuesday, Toyota said its February U.S. sales fell 3 percent, but the drop was substantially less than those posted at U.S.-based rivals General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC.

This year is expected to be the slowest in a decade for U.S. auto sales, but automakers are hoping that sales will begin to pick up in the second half of the year as a result of the federal stimulus package and pent-up demand.

Alexander Edwards, who heads the automotive division of the San Diego-based Strategic Vision consulting group, said all nine of the retiring executives played key roles in turning Toyota into the global power that it is today.

Edwards said their departures may be a combination of other automakers looking to snap up talented Toyota executives with proven track records, and Toyota looking for new leaders to take it to the next level.

"I think it's multiple factors," Edwards said. "It's a much more difficult battle ground, with the competition going up against Toyota and fewer people buying cars in 2008, and with other companies looking at these people too."

They wouldn't be the first executives to leave Toyota for rival automakers.

Jim Press, the former head of Toyota's North American operations, left in September to become Chrysler's president and vice chairman. He had been approved as Toyota's first non-Japanese board member just three months earlier.

Jim Farley a 17-year veteran and group vice president and general manager of Toyota's Lexus division in the U.S. left in November to become group vice president of global marketing and communications for Ford.

And Deborah Wahl Meyer moved to Chrysler to become vice president and chief marketing officer after six years at Toyota, most recently serving as vice president of marketing for Lexus.

Also retiring are Ken Goltara, 57, vice president for business technology services; Dudley Hawley, 64, Toyota Motor Sports vice president and senior adviser to AirFlite; and Mike Morrison, 53, vice president of the University of Toyota.

In addition, Marian Duntley, 59, corporate manager for customs; Jim Finkel, 61, corporate manager for vehicle logistics administration and planning; and Gloria Jahn, 57, corporate manager for business support services; will leave the company at various times before the end of the year, Toyota said.

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