Earlier this year, Toyota Motor Corporation once again secured the top spot as the world's best-selling automaker in 2025. With 11.32 million vehicles sold in total from all its affiliated brands, they were able to eclipse Volkswagen for a consecutive year, which sold 8.98 million units in 2025. At third place is Hyundai Motor Group, which was able to shift 7.27 million vehicles in 2025.

With Toyota being the leading automaker yet again for a consecutive year, it would seem all is well with the Japanese automaker's spreadsheets. However, new Toyota CEO Kenta Kon sees a problem with the brand's current lineup: there are just too many models.

According to a report by Automotive News, the new CEO wants to fix Toyota's bloat and reduce the number of variants and models the brand is currently making. Kon even went on to say that one of the issues a development division is facing right now is the increasing number of different variants and specifications being made, which in turn drives up costs.

“If you go to a development division, you see issues such as an increasing number of different specifications and variants being created, which in turn is driving up costs. If there are areas within those activities that aren’t truly value-adding work, or where work isn’t being done efficiently, then we need to take a closer look at them,” said Kenta Kon.

To do this, Kon suggested that Toyota may need to take a closer look at its spreadsheets and see what models aren't contributing to the company's bottom line. With everything essentially on the table, the automaker may have to ax some models or streamline its variants to reduce costs.

While no exact models or vehicles have been mentioned that could be axed, we won't be surprised if Toyota may soon start getting rid of models or variants that are not making a profit. And with the CEO noticing that Toyota engineers and development divisions are being stretched too thin across a vast array of vehicles, Toyota may need to trim down its lineup of vehicles.

Just this month, Toyota pulled the plug on its next-gen EV project, the LF-ZC. The electric sedan was supposedly set to take on the likes of the BMW i3 and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class EV and might have been the prerequisite for the all-new IS sedan. But with Lexus citing market uncertainties and the slowdown of demand for EVs, the LF-ZC project has been put aside for now.

While Toyota is still comfortably in the lead in terms of sales, the appointment of Kenta Kon as CEO of Toyota Motor Corporation comes at a time when the company is facing a challenging business environment. With Toyota looking to improve its purchasing power, lower break-even volume, and accelerate practical initiatives for industry collaboration, it's not surprising that Toyota chose an executive who specializes in numbers and finance.

We'll be keeping a close eye on what Toyota plans to change or axe in the coming months.