Son of Toyota founder, honorary chairman Shoichiro Toyoda dies

The son of Toyota’s founder has died.

Shoichiro Toyoda was 97 years old.

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Toyoda was the company’s honorary chairman.

Toyota Motor Corp. said Toyoda died of heart failure on Tuesday, The Associated Press reported.

He was the eldest son of Kiichiro Toyoda who founded the company in 1937.

Shoichiro Toyoda became the automaker’s president in 1982 and helped make it a global powerhouse.

In the U.S. market, Toyotas are known for quality, durability, cost performance and engineering.

But with the success of the cars in the U.S. Toyoda’s family and company were frequently the targets of “Japan-bashing,” accused of taking jobs away from American companies, the AP reported.

In response, Shoichiro Toyoda and his brother Tatsuro Toyoda broke ground on manufacturing facilities in North America working with General Motors to produce vehicles through a partnership called New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. The first car came out of a Freemont, California plant in 1984, the AP reported.

He also helped launch the Lexus brand and Prius hybrid, Reuters reported.

His family was a long line of innovators.

Shoichiro Toyoda’s grandfather, Sakichi Toyoda invented an automatic loom to help his mother with her weaving.

Kiichiro Toyoda started building cars in 1933 when Japan was importing GMs and Fords.

He was followed by his son Shoichiro, who joined the company in 1952 after graduating from Nagoya University in 1947 with an engineering degree.

He earned a doctorate in engineering and wrote his thesis on fuel injection, the company said in the announcement of his death.

Shoichiro Toyoda served as the managing director, senior managing director, executive vice president and eventually the president of the company’s sales organization in 1981. He served on the company’s board of directors for 57 years and as chairman of the board between 1992 and 1999. He was named honorary chairman in 2009 until his death, the company said.

Shoichiro Toyoda worked alongside other Toyota employees in the factories to cement the idea of valuing the workplace or “genba,” where the work is done, which the company believed was a cornerstone of morale, efficient production, innovation and quality.

Shoichiro Toyoda’s son, Akio Toyoda had been the president and chief executive but recently stepped down from those roles to become the chairman.

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