In November 2025, Akio Toyoda, the Board Chair of Toyota Motor Corporation, shocked the world when he attended a NASCAR-themed event in Japan wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat and Trump-Vance t-shirt. Photographers at the event captured the spectacle and the photos of Chairman Toyoda and the U.S. Ambassador to Japan went viral. Akio Toyoda made it abundantly clear to Toyota drivers and the auto industry that the company had embraced the divisive actions of the Trump administration at the expense of providing consumer access to affordable electric vehicles.
Trump’s MAGA brand has often been associated with hostility toward EVs and the life-saving standards designed to get cleaner cars on the road. Donald Trump has pushed the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation to lead his deregulatory agenda and to: Make Cars More Polluting. By posing with his MAGA hat and Trump t-shirt, Akio Toyoda brazenly aligned the company with an unpopular president and lobbying for weaker climate standards under cover of patriotic political imagery despite the risk that controversial corporate political spending can pose to a company's bottom line.
But I wasn’t the least bit surprised given Toyota’s massive global lobbying efforts to slow climate action. In fact, it’s common practice nowadays to see billionaire executives bending the knee and selling out to Trump no matter the long-term consequences.
It is unacceptable for Toyota to undermine the urgent transition to clean transportation and public investments in EVs in the U.S, which will shift the burden – both the economic and human costs – of pollution onto our communities, as well as future generations.
For a global company such as Toyota, visibly picking a side in a polarizing political environment can alienate drivers, workers, suppliers, and community members who do not share that allegiance. Automakers sell cars to progressives, conservatives, and apolitical drivers alike. The visual of Board Chair Toyoda in MAGA gear is not neutral; it can and will be read as a cultural signal about who is favored and who is not.
Akio Toyoda’s MAGA moment, in the long term, risks leaving both the company, and the areas where it operates, behind in the global shift toward cleaner, more efficient transportation. The executives of leading auto companies are well aware that manufacturers in China are successfully responding to the long term trend of growing consumer EV demand and swiftly gaining global market share. In 2025, Chinese automaker BYD became the sixth-largest carmaker in the world.
Earlier this year, Toyota’s CEO Koji Sato announced his resignation and that their Chief Financial Officer Kenta Kon would take the helm. Sato left his post after just three-years. Toyota also announced a new lineup of battery electric SUVs promising they will be produced at volume for the U.S. market.
I have followed Toyota’s “electrified” marketing claims closely over the years and their actual production numbers never live up to the hype, which is more akin to greenwashing than genuine commitment to EVs. For example, in 2019 Toyota forecasted six EV models by 2025; in 2021 they planned to launch 30 EV models by 2030; and in 2023 they forecasted 10 EV models by 2026. In reality, Toyota has only produced a nominal amount of EVs while relying primarily on other strategies to comply with state and federal vehicle standards. Their only actual EV, which is a part of Toyota’s Beyond Zero vision, has dismal production numbers because it’s priced too high and not the vehicle drivers want. Needless to say, I’m beyond skeptical they actually intend to deliver EVs at scale in the U.S.
Sierra Club and a coalition of global NGOs have sent letters to Toyota’s leadership with no response. We have repeatedly demanded that Toyota stop lobbying against clean air and climate protection policies and have urged the company to reduce their GHG emissions to align with the Paris Agreement goal of 1.5°C. Above all, we have insisted that Toyota increase the availability of affordable electric vehicles in all markets.
With the latest leadership change, Toyota is at a major crossroads. While Chairman Toyoda would prefer to stall on EVs and just this month confessed that he’s fearful of the transition, Toyota should take the competition seriously and commit to selling EVs. This is a moment for Kenta Kon to chart a new path. As the new CEO, he should make sure Toyota leaders stay away from the contentious MAGA gear and instead develop and deliver affordable EVs.