Eiji Toyoda, Creator of Toyota Export Giant, Dies at 100

TOYOTA. September 17. KAZINFORM - Eiji Toyoda, who spearheaded Toyota Motor Corp. (7203)’s expansion in the U.S. as the automaker’s longest-serving president, has died. He was 100.
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Toyoda died at 4:32 a.m. today because of heart failure at the Toyota Memorial Hospital in Toyota City, Japan, Toyota Motor said in a statement. Funeral services will be held for close family members only, it said.

During his 57-year career, the younger cousin of Toyota Motor’s founder helped reshape a maker of Chevrolet  knockoffs into an automaker whose manufacturing efficiency became the envy of General Motors Corp. (GM)  and Ford Motor Co. By the time he stepped down in 1994, the company was assembling Corollas in the U.S., had started the Lexus luxury brand and had initiated a project that would develop the world’s most successful gas-electric vehicle, the Prius.

He played an important role in leading Toyota’s expansion into North America, and in developing the carmaker into a global company,” Japan ’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, said at a press conference in Tokyo. “He was someone who was indispensable to the nation’s entire industry.” Toyoda was a cousin of Kiichiro Toyoda, the founder of the company that bears a slightly altered version of the family’s name. He was one of six presidents to come from the family. 
Toyota fell 0.6 percent to 6,240 yen at the close in Tokyo trading, while the Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 0.7 percent.


Mass Production
During the 69 years he worked at the company , based in central Japan’s Toyota City, it rose from assembling its cars out of parts made by GM to being 16 times more valuable than the Detroit-based automaker. Toyoda pushed his company to learn from Ford and GM about mass production of automobiles.

Toyoda became president of Toyota Motor Co. in 1967 and served for 15 years -- longer than anyone before or since. In 1982, Toyota Motor and Toyota Motor Sales Co. merged to form Toyota Motor Corp. Toyoda became chairman of the combined company, serving until 1992. He was made honorary chairman of the company upon retirement and kept the title of honorary adviser.

He had three sons and a daughter with his wife, Kazuko. He is survived by his eldest son, Kanshiro, according to Toyota’s statement.

Source: Bloomberg 

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