Toyota Europe will be led by Matthew Harrison from April 1. He thus takes over from Johan van Zyl, who held the position from 2015.
Matthew Harrison is currently Vice President of Toyota Motor Europe, but will be promoted to the position of CEO effective April 1. Harrison (52) has been with Toyota since 1990, before that he worked for Ford. He moved up through various positions within Toyota UK to become Head of Sales and Marketing for Toyota Motor Europe in 2015. In 2019 he became the right hand of Johan van Zyl (photo 2) and next month the Briton will take over Van Zyl’s place.
Harrison’s task will be mainly to manage Toyota’s electrification expansion in Europe. The brand will focus more on plug-in hybrids and also on fully electric models. Johan van Zyl (62) in turn takes a step back. In addition to being CEO of Toyota Europe, he is currently also CEO of the South African branch. That will be its main function from 1 April. Van Zyl himself comes from South Africa and thus stays closer to home.