Shoichiro Toyoda, at 97; Toyota founder’s son
TOKYO — Shoichiro Toyoda, who oversaw Toyota’s expansion into international markets, died Tuesday of heart failure. He was 97.
He was the son of the company’s founder, Kiichiro, and the father of Akio Toyoda, who recently announced he was stepping down as president and chief executive to become its chairman. Kiichiro Toyoda founded Toyota in 1937.
After becoming Toyota’s president in 1982, Mr. Toyoda helped direct the car maker’s global transformation, expanding especially in the vital US market. Its brand became synonymous with quality, durability, cost performance, and engineering finesse.
Both father and son experienced the difficult years of “Japan-bashing,” when powerful Japanese exporters were blamed for taking away American blue-collar jobs.
The company opted to become a member of the US auto community, showing that Toyota was an asset, creating jobs and value for the American people.
With his brother Tatsuro, Mr. Toyoda helped lead the way for Toyota to set up manufacturing facilities in North America. The company formed a joint venture with General Motors in 1983, called New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. Its first vehicle rolled out in 1984 in Freemont, Calif.
The company relied on the founding family's legacy and historical charisma to tide it through times of crisis, although Toyota has had many chief executives who were not members of its founding family.
Mr. Toyoda was inducted into the US Automotive Hall of Fame in 2007, honored for his achievements in cementing “Toyota’s reputation as one of the most recognized and celebrated auto manufacturers in the world.”
It was reported that he had earned the respect of fellow employees by working right beside them in factories. That underscored Toyota’s vision of valuing the workplace, what’s on the ground, or “genba,” as critical for morale, efficient production, innovation, and quality.
Toyota’s beginnings were humble. Mr. Toyoda’s grandfather, Sakichi Toyoda, invented the automatic loom in a backyard shed, mainly because he wanted to help his mother, who often was weaving in their home.
People were skeptical when Kiichiro Toyoda said he wanted to start building cars in 1933. Back then, Japan only had imported cars.
Today, “The Toyota Way,” a production method that empowers each worker for quality control, is viewed as the best in the auto industry. Toyota, which makes the Prius hybrid, Camry sedan, and Lexus luxury models, is among the world’s top automakers in vehicle sales.
A “farewell” event in Mr. Toyoda’s honor was being planned for a later date, according to Toyota. Details on other family members he leaves were not immediately available.