Toyota Announces New Leadership at Lexus, Scion

TORRANCE, Calif. - Jim Lentz, executive vice president of Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc., today announced the promotion of Scion Vice President Mark Templin to succeed Jim Farley as group vice president and general manager of Lexus, the company's luxury division.

Farley, who joined Toyota in 1990, resigned today to lead Ford Motor Co.'s global marketing and communications group. In addition, Lentz announced two other executive promotions. Jack Hollis, corporate manager of Scion, will succeed Templin as vice president of Scion, Toyota's youth brand, and Dawn Ahmed, Toyota Division national cross vehicle marketing manager, will replace Hollis as corporate manager of Scion.

Lentz praised Farley's work at Toyota but noted that "Toyota has an amazingly deep bench, and the new promotions provided an opportunity to reward a number of top performers."

He also pointed out that "Farley's selection shows how highly the industry prizes the talent, knowledge and experience of TMS associates."

"Mark Templin has done a brilliant job leading Scion through the challenges of maintaining the brand's edgy identity while introducing new products to the lineup," said Lentz. "Jack Hollis has an outstanding record of accomplishment, including managing relations with TMS' private distributors and launching internal initiatives to improve the customer experience. And Dawn Ahmed has consistently achieved stellar results in Toyota and Scion marketing. She was part of the original team that launched Scion and she helped guide the successful launch of the all-new Toyota Tundra."

(Oct 11, 2007)