Osamu Suzuki, former chairman of Suzuki Motor Corporation, has died. He helped turn the Japanese mini-vehicle maker into a globally competitive player, the company said on Friday. He was 94. Suzuki was known for his candid comments and friendliness. He called himself the old man of a small to mid-sized company, AP reported. He became Suzuki CEO in 1978 and led the company when it became the first Japanese automaker to start local production in India. Its cars proved to be very popular in India.

Joined Suzuki Motor in 1958

Born on January 30, 1930 as Osamu Matsuda, Suzuki worked in the banking sector after graduating from Tokyo's Chuo University School of Law, according to the report. He joined Suzuki Motor, based in the central Japanese city of Hamamatsu, in 1958. He married the daughter of the company's then-president, Shunzo Suzuki, who belonged to the company's founding family. As is sometimes customary in such situations, Matsuda took his wife's maiden name.

Affordable minicar launched

In 1979, a year after becoming Suzuki Motor's fourth company president, he launched an affordable minicar that became a huge hit and was widely promoted in markets worldwide. Under Suzuki's leadership, the company's sales grew more than tenfold to over 3 trillion yen ($19 billion) in the 2000s. Suzuki also forged business alliances with other global leaders such as General Motors and Volkswagen AG in the 2000s.

Suzuki steps up with mini and compact cars

Amid rising competition and industrial transformation, Suzuki also formed a capital alliance with Toyota Motor Corp in 2019 to co-develop self-driving vehicles. While other Japanese automakers have expanded into the US and Chinese markets, offering a wide range of vehicles, Suzuki has stuck to mini and compact cars, mostly in South and Southeast Asia. Suzuki stressed the importance of understanding the grassroots. Suzuki once said in an interview that making good quality and low-priced products is the basis of manufacturing. We cannot reduce costs by sitting in the position of president or chairperson, so I have to live in a factory to understand the work and get ideas.

Suzuki resigned as chairman in 2015 at the age of 85 and handed over the position to his son Toshihiro Suzuki. He worked as an advisor to the company after resigning as chairman in 2021. Suzuki died of malignant lymphoma on Wednesday, the company said.