Osamu Suzuki, the charismatic former chairman of Suzuki Motor Corp. who helped transform the small Japanese automaker into a globally competitive company, has died, the company announced Friday. He was 94 years old.
Suzuki was known for his frank statements and friendliness, calling himself “the old man of a small to medium-sized company.” He became CEO of Suzuki in 1978 and was leading the company as it became the first Japanese automaker to start local production in India, where its cars proved very popular.
Suzuki was born Osamu Matsuda on January 30, 1930, and worked in banking after graduating from Chuo University Law School in Tokyo. He joined Suzuki Motor Company, based in the central Japanese city of Hamamatsu, in 1958 when he married the daughter of then-president Shunzō Suzuki, who belonged to the company’s founding family. As is sometimes customary in such situations, Matsuda adopted his wife’s maiden name.
In 1979, a year after becoming the fourth president of Suzuki Motor Company, he launched an affordable small car, which became a huge hit and was promoted in global markets.
Under Suzuki’s leadership, the company’s sales increased more than tenfold to 3 trillion yen ($19 billion) in the 2000s.
Suzuki also led business relationships with other global leaders such as General Motors and Volkswagen AG in the 2000s. Amid intense competition and industrial transformation, Suzuki also formed a capital alliance with Toyota Motor Corp. in 2019 to engage in the development of autonomous vehicles.
While other Japanese automakers have expanded into the US and China markets, offering a wide range of vehicles, Suzuki has stuck to small and compact cars, mostly in South and Southeast Asia.
Suzuki stressed the importance of understanding the grassroots level.
“Making high-quality, low-priced products is the foundation of manufacturing,” Suzuki once said in an interview with NHK TV. “We can’t cut costs while sitting in the president’s or chairman’s offices, so I have to be in the factory to understand the business and get ideas.”
Suzuki stepped down as president at the age of 85 in 2015, handing over the position to his son, Toshihiro Suzuki. He served as an advisor to the company after resigning as Chairman of the Board in 2021.
The company said Suzuki died on Wednesday from malignant lymphoma.
