This is The Morning Shift, our one-stop daily roundup of all the auto news that's actually important — all in one place every weekday morning. Or, you could spend all day waiting for other sites to parse it out to you one story at a time. Isn't your time more important?

This is The Morning Shift, our one-stop daily roundup of all the auto news that's actually important — all in one place at 9:30 AM. Or, you could spend all day waiting for other sites to parse it out to you one story at a time. Isn't your time more important?

To paraphrase André 3000, what's cooler than being cool? Being Akio Toyoda, Toyota's performance-loving, race car-driving, occasionally hipster-dressing CEO, that's what. And in a thing that actually just happened for real, he sent me a letter telling me I'm the coolest. I'm feeling all the feels!

I have a huge amount of respect for Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda, and just when I didn't think he could rise any higher in my book, he shows up to a talk at Meiji University dressed like just raided the Bonobos catalog to try and get young people excited about cars again.

This is The Morning Shift, our one-stop daily roundup of all the auto news that's actually important — all in one place at 9:00 AM. Or, you could spend all day waiting for other sites to parse it out to you one story at a time. Isn't your time more important?

This is The Morning Shift, our one-stop daily roundup of all the auto news that's actually important — all in one place at 9:00 AM. Or, you could spend all day waiting for other sites to parse it out to you one story at a time. Isn't your time more important?

Let's face it: when Akio Toyoda became CEO at Toyota, nobody really knew what to make of it. Was he just representing the family's interests? Would he be a puppet for management? Or was he a Hail Mary pass to pull Toyota out of its slump?

Sakichi Toyoda was born in Japan 145 years ago today on February 14th, 1867. By all accounts a hard-working entrepreneur, Toyoda's greatest success was building a small business manufacturing textile looms. That business ended up growing into a company that, for two years beginning in 2008, became the world's largest…

This is Akio Toyoda, CEO and President of Toyota, one of the three largest automakers in the world, dirt-tracking a Toyota GT 86/Scion FR-S. The only thing better? Toyoda then takes it snow-drifting. Epic.

In the space of a few short months, Toyota saw its public image go from hero to zero. Fast Company's Ken Carbone takes a thoughtful, humorous look at why the big T's logo is due for a change. —Ed.

Toyota Motor President Akio Toyoda admits "Hyundai is coming up" with the Sonata and questions his company's old model of building beige cars like the Camry. [Automotive News]

Last night on Letterman, Dave had on a very special guest, Fake Akio Toyoda! The faux-Akio was ostensibly on camera to take responsibility for the company's current issues, but instead went on a stellar anti-American driver rant. Dave bites back?

Akio Toyoda was criticized in Japan after failing to bow deeply enough during his first Toyota recall apology. Experts think the second bow was just deep enough to express regret without accepting legal responsibility for the crisis. [NYPost]

Last week, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda apologized on Japanese Television for his company's little fiery death safety oversight. Immediately afterward, he was seen departing in a black Audi sedan which, judging by reports, had a fully-functioning accelerator pedal.

speaking to reporters on the subject of Toyota's flagging global sales, down from a high of 10 million cars and expected to reach only 7.3 million this year. [GMI]

Akio Toyoda, the head of Toyota Motor Corp, called the current dollar-yen rate "very tough" on Friday, saying weak U.S. currency made it difficult to return to profit on an unconsolidated level. Always blaming America first, eh? [Reuters]