Toyota honorary chairman Shoichiro Toyoda passes away at age 97

Toyota Chief Shoichiro Toyoda, instrumental in expanding the company’s production into North America and making it a global brand, passed away at the age of 97 due to heart failure.

In his decade-long tenure as the company’s leader, he utilized his expertise in engineering, management, politics, and diplomacy to steer Toyota towards becoming the world’s largest automaker, taking on General Motors.

Despite the US-Japan trade tensions at the time, Toyoda forged an alliance with General Motors and established Toyota’s first American plant in Kentucky, yielding to American demands to manufacture cars locally. Toyoda believed that Japan needed to work harder to win over competitors and made it a part of Toyota’s corporate philosophy.