Shoichiro Toyoda
Shoichiro Toyoda, the son of Toyota founder Kiichiro Toyoda, has passed away. Shoichiro Toyoda himself was also at the helm of the company that his father founded in 1937.
Shoichiro Toyoda passed away on Tuesday at the age of 97, Toyota announced. The automaker’s honorary chairman died of heart failure two weeks before his 98th birthday. Shoichiro Toyoda started working for the car company founded by his father Kiichiro in 1952. Toyoda senior passed away that same year. In 1982, Shoichiro Toyoda became president of the company, which had just merged its commercial activities and production. They were kept separate in the years before.
Toyoda remained the chief executive for ten years, after which he served as chairman of the company until 1999. During that period, Toyota grew into one of the largest car companies in the world. For example, the company introduced the luxury brand Lexus and introduced the first hybrid vehicles with the Toyota Prius. Toyoda is also the father of current Toyota CEO Akio. He has been in office since 2009 and recently announced that he would step down in a few months. Like his father, he will then become chairman earlier.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl