Toyota shares rise with shareholders approval of the board of directors and the new electric vehicle strategy

Toyota shares hit a 16-month high on Wednesday after shareholders voted to keep Akio Toyoda as chairman in a broad endorsement of the company’s board and its renewable strategy.

Shareholders also rejected proposals for more climate pressure disclosures for the Japanese automaker, while also voting in favor of all 10 proposed board members at the company’s annual general meeting in Toyota City.

Toyota shares were up nearly 4.3% at 1pm local time, at 2,276 yen a share — their highest level since February 2022. It also outperformed both Tokyo’s Topix and Nikkei indexes, which were up nearly 1% on Wednesday afternoon. . .

A handful of institutional investors have bristled at the reappointment of Toyoda — grandson of Toyota Motors’ founder — on the grounds that the company’s strategy of focusing on multiple fronts across hybrids, gasoline and electric vehicles has hurt its competitiveness.

The unprecedented challenges by Toyota shareholders this year come as Japanese companies come under increasing pressure to better engage their shareholders in improving capital efficiency and overall profitability.

Ahead of the meeting, the world’s largest automaker said on Tuesday it would offer a full range of battery electric vehicles with “next-generation” batteries from 2026. These will be developed and manufactured by a new EV unit called BEV Factory, which is built in CAN. .

Toyota aims to achieve sales of 1.5 million fully electric vehicles annually by 2026, and to sell 3.5 million fully electric vehicles annually by 2030.