Cars & Concepts

Toyota's truck translator

Mike Sweers must help reinvent Toyota's lineup to be greener, while keeping the power, functionality and rugged looks demanded by truck fans.
March 26, 2018 05:00 AM
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Mike Sweers: Toyota's man from Truckland
  • Title: Executive general manager, CV Company
  • Age: 54
  • Nationality: U.S.
  • Education: B.S. in mechanical engineering, University of Detroit
  • Joined Toyota: 1990
  • Family: 3 daughters
  • Project portfolio: Tundra, Tacoma, Sequoia, 4Runner, FJ Cruiser
  • Before Toyota: Worked at Chrysler Corp. and General Motors' Oldsmobile Division
  • Big Break: Becoming Tundra chief engineer in 2010
  • Wheels in Japan: No “trucks.” First a Prius, next a Harrier, then a C-HR
  • On future of trucks: “Now that trucks are socially acceptable to be the primary vehicle in the family, I just think the truck guys are going to take over the world. That's my evil plan.”
  • On love for trucks: “I have a lot of passion for trucks. I consider myself a truck guy. I grew up with trucks. I learned to drive on trucks. Everybody in my family drives trucks. We enjoy trucks.”
  • On the joy of engineering: “You want to motivate me, tell me it can't be done, and I will do that job. This is what engineers live to do.”

TOYOTA CITY, Japan — Toyota's truck guy in Japan, Michigan transplant Mike Sweers, looks straight out of central casting as he struts across the Toyota City technical center campus in his close-cropped goatee, auto-tinting eyeglasses and black cowboy boots.

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