Goran Krizmanić is a manager with 25 years of experience in the automotive industry after a handball career in Medveščak. As the first director, he launched Toyota’s company in Zagreb. He then managed the business in the region from Ljubljana, and for the last ten years, he has been involved with Africa. He worked in Mauritius and South Africa, and for the past five years, he has been leading Toyota’s operations for the entire African market from Paris. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Toyota’s company CFAO, which has 22,000 employees, is present in 46 out of 54 African countries, and besides automobiles, is involved in other activities – from distribution and production of pharmaceuticals to retail, food and beverage industry, and energy. We spoke with one of the highest positioned Croats in the global automotive industry during his short vacation in Croatia, at Toyota’s center in Zagreb, where former colleagues greet him as if he was with them just yesterday, although he left this region ten years ago. He entered the automotive industry – by elevator, from his first company, Končar – Elevators.
What has remained the same in 22 years – how long have you been with Toyota – apart from the brand, logo, and tradition? Even the operation is different.
– Very little has remained completely the same. All companies that want to survive and remain high, and Toyota is an important global player both then and now, must change. All Japanese companies start from a vision, which can be long-term, but also changes. We used to talk about cars, today we talk about mobility, and at the same time, the automotive industry has completely changed. From a classic old-fashioned industry, it has become very dynamic, with challenges related to electrification, autonomy, connectivity, and car ownership, new players are emerging who are becoming important. Toyota secured its leading position today with its hybrid vision about 30 years ago. In Europe, we practically have no model that is not sold with a new type of drive – hybrid or purely electric. Toyota has moved from a follower or challenger to one of the leading brands on this continent – last year it was the second best-selling brand in Europe.
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— It seems to me that the automotive industry, in symbiosis with the oil industry as a whole, is reluctantly moving towards electrification. If it truly wanted to switch to electricity, we would no longer have the production of diesel vehicles today.
– I partially agree with you. We have a geopolitical context, in which the oil lobby certainly has an influence on the automotive industry, which has been developing conventional engines for many years. And now a new element has emerged with the replacement of that entire technology. If it weren’t for the political context, there would probably be more electrification. The second reason is that the technology of cars, but also everything else – factories, suppliers, components, development – is based on conventional engines, which have been significantly refined, and has its value. That’s why I think the hybrid variant is the ideal solution for today because there are questions regarding electrification to which we currently have no answers. We can, for example, ask whether we have enough energy in Croatia, where that energy comes from, whether we have the infrastructure for complete electrification, what we will do with batteries… There are still no complete answers to those questions, so it seems to me that we will be in a transitional phase for some time.
At a time when some other transitional countries were attracting the automotive industry, Croatia was attracting distributors.
– When Toyota opened a factory in the Czech Republic, we met with a serious project team led by the Prime Minister. They spoke directly with manufacturers and brought them to the country in long-term processes. These were investments of many billions in the factory, and along with that, about 200 suppliers come, creating a whole large hub. A fascinating ecosystem. When we talked in Croatia, it was just a variant of ‘we can provide land for a factory’ – and that was where it all stopped. Croatia has never actually had a strategy to seriously engage in the automotive industry. We have never had a serious ambition to create production in the country.
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