Toyota’s honorary chairman dies

Shoichiro Toyoda, the honorary chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation who transformed the company into a leading global carmaker, has died of heart failure. 

The 97-year-old, pictured, passed away on February 14 and was responsible for pushing Toyota, which started as a loom manufacturer in Japan, to produce vehicles overseas.

A grandson of Sakichi Toyoda, who founded the Toyota group, Shoichiro Toyoda joined the company as a board member at the age of 27 before becoming managing director in 1961.

He was promoted to executive vice-president in 1972 and nine years later took on the role of president for Toyota’s sales organisation.

Following a merger of the production and sales organisations in 1982, he took over the helm of the newly integrated Toyota Motor Corporation and served as chairman of the board from 1992 to 1999.

After spending 57 years on the board, Shoichiro Toyoda was made honorary chairman in 2009.

He was also inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in the United States in 2007.