Leon van der Merwe will add responsibility for Production Control to his role as vice-president of supply chain at Toyota Motor Europe. Toyota said it was making the changes to its European executive structure to “accelerate the company’s transformation and navigate the changes required to become a mobility company, built on the principles of carbon neutrality and sustainability”.

Under van der Merwe’s direction in Europe, the carmaker is setting out for its logistics sustainability programme to catch up to the progress it has begun to make in manufacturing, including a more strategic use of transport modes, a greater focus on rail and multimodal, cutting truck kilometres and the adoption of sustainable fuels for last-mile truck deliveries.