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Toyoda Shoichiro, honorary president of Toyota, died of heart failure on the 14th at the age of 97, Toyota announced on February 14th.

When it comes to Toyoda Shoichiro, the post-90s or post-00s may not be familiar with it, but the post-70s or 80s must be familiar with it. Toyoda Shoichiro is the second-generation head of Toyota, the eldest son of Toyota founder Kiichiro Toyoda and the father of Akio Toyoda. Born in 1925 in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, Toyoda Shoichiro graduated from the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Nagoya University in September 1947 and received his doctorate in Mechanical Engineering in 1955.

As the eldest son of Toyota's founder, Toyoda Shoichiro inherited the family business shortly after graduation, and most of his resume was related to Toyota. According to Automotive Industry concern, Toyoda Shoichiro joined the family business Toyota in 1952, responsible for automotive technology, quality management and factory management. Toyoda Shoichiro was promoted to director of the management department in 1961, senior management director in 1967, executive vice president in 1972 and president of Toyota Motor sales Company in 1981. In July 1982, Toyota Motor Industry Co., Ltd. and Toyota Motor sales Company merged and renamed Toyota Motor Co., Ltd., at this point, Toyoda Shoichiro took over Toyoda Eiji as the first president and became the helm of Toyota. For nearly 20 years, Toyoda Shoichiro tied Toyota all the way to become the world's largest automobile company.

Toyoda Shoichiro's meticulous and rigorous work attitude when he inspected a factory in 1991 was shocking. At that time, when Toyoda Shoichiro was checking the assembly quality of a new car, he, dressed in a suit, was not above it. Instead, he went to the bottom of the car directly in front of the new car to check the assembly quality of the car and seriously pointed out its existence to the technicians in the workshop. In recognition of his great contribution to the auto industry, he was also selected into the American Automobile Hall of Fame, which celebrities in the world auto industry. He became the second person in Toyota's history to enter the American Automobile Hall of Fame.

Toyoda Shoichiro stepped down as president in 1992, served as president of Toyota, served as president of Japanese economic groups from 1994 to 1998, and Toyoda Shoichiro served as honorary president of the company since 1999. In June 2009, Toyota's two top managers, Toyoda Shoichiro (83) and Okuda Hiroshi (76), explicitly resigned from the board, but as senior figures of the company, the two still supported Akio Toyoda's new management camp as honorary presidents and advisers. Since then, Toyoda Shoichiro, who should have spent his twilight years, became the spiritual leader of Toyota as honorary president of the company.

In addition to the above position, Toyoda Shoichiro also has the status of a long-term chairman of the Japan-China Investment Promotion Agency, and in his own words, he has an affinity with China. Toyoda Shoichiro is the promoter of Toyota localization, including the establishment of FAW Toyota and so on. It is understood that FAW Toyota is one of the projects promoted by Toyoda Shoichiro, which was formally established in 2002. Toyoda Shoichiro has personally tied the development of FAW Toyota many times. Toyoda Shoichiro, 93, personally stood on the platform of FAW Toyota's new TNGA plant in March 2018, when the incident attracted a great deal of attention from the industry. It can be said that Toyoda Shoichiro contributed to Toyota's achievements today.

The day before Toyoda Shoichiro's death, there was a major personnel change at the top of Toyota. On February 13, Toyota announced that from April 1, Yuki Nakajima, president of Toyota's midsize car company, will serve as chief technology officer, and Yoichi Miyazaki will be chief financial officer. The two will join the board, along with the new chief brand officer, Simon Humphries (Simon Humphries), to form the BEV reform, the Woven plan and the Asian carbon-neutral strategy. At the same time, Toyota's three current vice presidents, Jian Kenta, Masahiko Maeda and Morita, will lead Toyota's Asian strategy and electrification businesses, respectively.

In the personnel adjustment, Toyota announced the appointments of senior executives and senior executives effective from March 1, 2023 and April 1, 2023 respectively. In addition to the above appointments, personnel changes include the promotion of Yoshihiro Nakada from deputy general manager to general manager. Matthew Harrison, the current general manager of the European division, served as deputy general manager.

On January 26, Toyota announced that Akio Toyoda would step down as president from April 1, 2023, while appointing Toyota chief brand officer and Lexus brand head Eiji Sato to take over the new president. The reshuffle is the first time in 14 years that Toyota has ushered in a personnel change of its top official. Akio Toyoda, 66, the grandson of Toyota founder Kiichiro Toyoda, joined Toyota in 1984 and has been Toyota's president since June 2009.

In the past 2022, Toyota became the world's top seller with a score of 10.48 million vehicles, ranking first in global car sales for three consecutive years. Toyota said in its obituary that Toyoda Shoichiro's contributions and achievements in the automotive industry will always be remembered. Toyota expressed condolences over the death of Toyoda Shoichiro and thanked him for his outstanding contribution to the company.

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