Brussels,
03
April
2023
|
00:26
Europe/Amsterdam

Didier Leroy, Chairman Toyota Motor Europe

Mr Leroy, born in December 1957, qualified as an engineer from the Ecole Supérieure des Sciences et Technologies de l’Ingénieur of Nancy in 1981. In 1993 he completed the Management Program at CEDEP/INSEAD.

Mr Leroy began his career in the automotive industry in 1982 with Renault, where he held a number of senior positions at their production plants over a 16-year term. In 1996, Mr Leroy was given responsibility for production of the Le Mans plant, becoming the youngest Deputy Plant Director of the Renault Group at that time.

Mr Leroy was selected by the Top Management to be one of the 7 leaders of cross-functional task force at company-wide level to achieve real breakthrough in terms of cost reduction.

Mr Leroy joined Toyota Motor Manufacturing France (TMMF) in September 1998 as Vice-President in charge of Manufacturing. In this role, Mr Leroy took an active part in setting up the company and constructing the plant, which began operations in January 2001.

In January 2005, Mr Leroy was appointed President of Toyota Motor Manufacturing France.

In addition, Mr Leroy was appointed a Managing Officer of Toyota Motor Corporation and an Executive Vice-President of Toyota Motor Europe (TME) in June 2007. Mr Leroy was focused on improving the operational efficiency of TME’s European manufacturing plants.

In July 2009, Didier Leroy was assigned to the new responsibility of Executive Vice-President of the Sales Functions of TME. In this role, Mr Leroy was focusing on Sales, Marketing and After Sales for the 56 countries covered by Toyota's European operations.

In July 2010, Mr Leroy became President and CEO of TME and Chief Regional Officer of TMC for Europe. In addition to his TME responsibilities in R&D, purchasing, manufacturing, sales & marketing and after-sales, he coordinated the strategy of TMC operations in Europe, including finance services, Design and Motorsport.

In April 2015, Mr Leroy became the first non-Japanese Executive Vice President of Toyota Motor Corporation and in June 2015, Mr Leroy was appointed member of the Board of directors of TMC. His responsibilities cover operations worldwide outside of Japan. These worldwide operations include industrial or commercial activities as well as sales and after sales activities in Japan.

In April 2016, he was made, additionally to his previous responsibility, Chief Competitive Officer of TMC, tasked with boosting the global competitiveness of Toyota worldwide.

In June 2020, he left his operational functions at Toyota Motor Corporation, but he kept his role of Chairman of Toyota Motor Europe and he became Akio Toyoda’s advisor, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Toyota Group.