New Delhi: Osamu Suzuki, the former Suzuki Motor Chairman and CEO, died on Wednesday at 94 years in Japan’s Tokyo. However, the company announced the news on Friday afternoon. He led the company as president, chairman, and CEO for over 40 years from 1978 to 2021. As per the statement released by the company, the cause of Suzuki’s death was malignant lymphoma.
Under his tenure Suzuki Motor’s consolidated sales from around 300 billion yen (USD 1.9 billion) in 1978 to over 3 trillion yen in fiscal 2006, reported ANI. As per Japan’s Kyodo News, he also transformed the Suzuki motors into a global powerhouse. Suzuki was also credited with cementing the company’s dominance in India’s car market.
Who Was Suzuki?
Suzuki was on January 30, 1930, in Central Japan’s Gifu Prefecture as Osamu Matsuda. After graduating from Chuo University in 1953, he started his career as a loan officer in a local bank. Suzuki married Shoko Suzuki, the granddaughter of the patriarch of Suzuki Motor Corporation, Michio Suzuki. Notably, he adopted the family name of his wife, who was the daughter of then-president Shunzo Suzuki. Osamu Suzuki joined the automaker in 1958.
In 1978, he assumed the presidency and transformed Suzuki Motor, which began in 1920 as Suzuki Loom Manufacturing Co., into one of Japan’s leading automakers. In contrary to other Japanese automakers that pursued markets in the United and China, Suzuki focused on producing mini vehicles domestically and compact cars in regions like India, Southeast Asia, and Hungary.
In 2012, Suzuki Motor exited the automobile business in the US and did the same thing in China in 2018 in view of the markets’ preference for larger vehicles, reported ANI. Meanwhile, Suzuki Motor forged a business and capital tie-up with Volkswagen AG in 2009. However, the partnership was dissolved in 2015.
Suzuki led the formation of a capital alliance with Toyota Motor Corporation in 2019 with the aim to focus on co-developing self-driving vehicles amidst the industry’s pivot to CASE (connected, autonomous, shared, and electric) technologies.
Osamu Suzuki stepped down as president in 2015, handing over the reins to his son, Toshihiro Suzuki. However, he continued to remain chairman until 2021.
Suzuki’s Role In Giving New Dimension To Indian Auto Industry:
Suzuki was credited for making India a flourishing auto market. Maruti Suzuki India Limited is a publicly listed Indian subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation. It was established as Maruti Udyog by the Government of India as a joint venture with Suzuki Motor. It became the first Japanese automaker to invest in India. The company opened its first production facility in Haryana in 1982.
Initially, Maruti was majority-owned by the Indian government, with Suzuki only having a 26 per cent stake at the time of its establishment in 1982. The Indian government gradually reduced its stake in 2003 by making it a public company and then sold all of its remaining shares to Suzuki Motor Corporation in 2007.
Suzuki was conferred India’s third highest civilian award – Bharat Bhushan in 2007.
(WIth inputs from ANI)
