Akio Toyoda, Chairman, Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, Inc.

The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) welcomes today’s announcement of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet reshuffle. We would like, first of all, to express our gratitude for the sustained economic growth achieved through various policies including Abenomics that have been carried out over the past six-and-a-half years. We hope that, on the basis of the prime minister’s strong leadership and firm political foundation, the new Cabinet—whose composition creates, in Abe’s own words, “a powerful lineup for providing stability and tackling challenges”—will work in unity and with all-out efforts to implement critical policies promoting the further growth of the national economy.

Uncertainty in the environment surrounding the automobile industry remains, owing to factors including recent yen appreciation and the impending consumption tax hike. Among JAMA member companies, a sense of crisis has emerged that it will become increasingly difficult for our industry to protect employment in Japan if the domestic market and domestic production continue to shrink.

The Japanese automobile industry therefore intends to continue to work vigorously and with wholehearted determination to safeguard manufacturing and employment in Japan, with the aim of becoming the leading mobility industry worldwide. We solicit the support of the new Cabinet in bolstering the competitiveness of the automobile industry as a strategic industry over the mid-to-long term, via initiatives such as addressing taxes and deregulation with a view to the new mobility of the future.