Japan boasts some of the world’s biggest carmakers, but pay packages for their executives pale in comparison to industry leaders in the United States.
Toyota said on Friday that its former chief executive officer, Akio Toyoda, was paid ¥999 million ($6.9 million) last fiscal year, up from ¥685 million total compensation in the year through March 2022. Even after the 46% increase, his pay remained lower than his peers in the year before.
In 2021, General Motors CEO Mary Barra’s total compensation was about $29 million, while Jim Farley’s package at Ford was just under $23 million, company filings show. In Europe, Stellantis, which makes Fiat, Jeep and Peugeot cars, paid CEO Carlos Tavares €19.2 million ($21 million) in 2021, not including long-term incentives.
Executive compensation in Japan has always been far below that of U.S. counterparts in almost every industry. Companies like Toyota say they’re committed to changing that.
"Owing to culture or corporate structure, the salaries of American executives and foreign executives in Japan have historically been much higher,” a Toyota spokesperson said Friday. "We’re aware of the gap and we’re working to fix it.”
James Kuffner, Toyota’s chief digital officer and CEO of its technology development arm, was paid ¥810 million last fiscal year, according to the company’s statement Friday.
Nissan, which has just shuffled its leadership, also published salaries Friday, showing that former Chief Operation Officer Ashwani Gupta was paid ¥726 million last fiscal year. CEO Makoto Uchida made ¥673 million.
Honda said last week that its CEO Toshihiro Mibe was paid ¥348 million and Chairman Seiji Kuraishi got ¥138 million.
Toyoda was replaced as CEO in April by former Lexus chief Koji Sato, who is driving a shift into electric vehicles. Sato’s salary wasn’t published Friday.