Akio Toyoda, grandson of Toyota founder, wins shareholders’ approval to stay in leadership

TOKYO (AP) — Toyota shareholders voted Tuesday in support of all the company’s proposals, including keeping Akio Toyoda, grandson of the Japanese automaker’s founder, as chairman on the board.

Details on the vote tallies were not immediately available. But the company confirmed the majority voted in support of its positions. A shareholder proposal requesting that Toyota issue an annual report on its climate-related lobbying activities was rejected.

The annual meeting, held at company headquarters in Toyota city, central Japan, has drawn attention because Toyota and other major domestic makers have been embroiled in a scandal centered around fraudulent certification tests for vehicles.

The cheating did not result in recalls or safety problems. A shareholder proposal requesting that Toyota issue an annual report on its climate-related lobbying activities was rejected.

Still, it’s a major embarrassment for a manufacturer with a reputation for quality whose production methods are studied around the world. Some individual shareholders asked about the scandal during the meeting.

Toyota, which makes the Prius hybrid, Camry sedan and Lexus luxury models, is at times seen as dragging their feet on climate change.

Under Toyoda, it has pushed a “multi-pathway” approach to ecological vehicles, emphasizing hybrids, which have both a gasoline engine and electric motor, and using hydrogen for fuel instead of focusing on battery electric vehicles.

“The group considers climate change measures to be one of its important management tasks and is fully concentrated on realizing carbon neutrality by 2050,” Toyota said in explaining its recommendation on the shareholders’ vote.

It stressed its multi-pathway strategy and argued it was transparent