Osamu Suzuki, the charismatic former boss of Suzuki Motor Corp. who helped turn the Japanese mini-vehicle maker into a globally competitive company, has died, the company said Friday. He was 94.
Suzuki was known for his candid remarks and friendliness, calling himself an “old man from a small to medium-sized company.” He became Suzuki’s CEO in 1978 and led the company when it became the first Japanese automaker to begin local production in India, where its cars enjoyed widespread popularity.
Born Osamu Matsuda on January 30, 1930, Suzuki worked in banking after graduating from Chuo University Law School in Tokyo. He joined Suzuki Motor, based in the central Japanese city of Hamamatsu, in 1958 when he married a daughter of then company president Shunzo Suzuki, who was part of the company’s founding family. As is sometimes customary in such situations, Matsuda took his wife’s maiden name.
In 1979, a year after becoming the fourth company president of Suzuki Motor, he launched an affordable small car that became a huge success and was sold in global markets.
Under Suzuki’s leadership, the company’s sales increased more than tenfold to 3 trillion yen (US$19 billion) in the 2000s.
Suzuki also led business collaborations with other global leaders such as General Motors and Volkswagen AG in the 2000s. Amid intensifying competition and industrial change, Suzuki also entered into a capital alliance with Toyota Motor Corp. in 2019. to jointly develop self-driving vehicles.
While other Japanese automakers expanded into the U.S. and Chinese markets and offered a wide range of vehicles, Suzuki stuck to mini and compact cars, particularly in South and Southeast Asia.
Suzuki emphasized the importance of understanding the basic level.
“Producing high-quality and affordable products is the basis of manufacturing,” Suzuki once said in an interview with NHK Television. “We cannot cut costs while sitting in the office of the president or chairman. That’s why I have to be in a factory to understand the work and get ideas.”
Suzuki resigned as president in 2015 at the age of 85 and handed over the office to his son Toshihiro Suzuki. After stepping down as CEO in 2021, he served as an advisor to the company.
The company said Suzuki died Wednesday of malignant lymphoma.
