The charismatic former Suzuki boss, who helped the Japanese compact car specialist become a globally competitive company, has died at the age of 94 from malignant lymphoma, the company announced on Friday. business.
Osamu Suzuki was CEO of the company in 1978 and served as CEO, president or president until 2021, when – already 90 years old – he resigned and took on an advisory role.
The start of his tenure at the top coincided with some crucial milestones in Suzuki’s expansion beyond the Japanese car market, such as the launch of the small city car the Alto in 1979 that would become Suzuki’s longest-running and best-selling car of all time.
Furthermore, while other Japanese brands sought to expand in markets such as Europe, America and later China, Osamu Suzuki’s first major overseas assignment was India. In 1980, his company married the Indian government and its weakened Maruti company.
The resolution was risky, but the partnership worked. Suzuki sold about a third of all its cars in India, making India the most important market for the company outside Japan.
The company consistently remained among the top 10 smartest motorcycle dealers in the world for most of Osamu Suzuki’s tenure, and was also a key player in motorcycle racing in Japan and beyond.
The company was founded by patriarch Michio Suzuki in 1909. It initially specialized in production looms, the design specialty of engineer Suzuki.
In the 1930s, Michio Suzuki sought to diversify corporate and well-known private transportation, especially motorized bicycles or motorcycles, as a promising avenue for expansion.
However, during World War II, the Japanese government banned the company from making investments in “non-essential civilian production,” so its plans were abandoned.
Soon after the war, with its loom business under threat from automation and other advancements, Suzuki hurriedly returned to his transportation blueprints.
The first product for post-war Japan, still decimated, almost a precursor to an electric bicycle: an undeniable bicycle with a small two-stroke gasoline engine with horsepower linked to the brake for additional oomph: the Suzuki Power Free.
Michio was also ahead of his time with his first car, the SuzuLight, which was waiting for Japanese demand for super-compact “kei” cars, designed for use in giant cities with busy roads and not enough parking space.
Born Osamu Matsuda in 1930, Suzuki worked in banking after graduating from Tokyo’s Chuo University School of Law.
He joined Suzuki Motor in 1958, after marrying one of the patriarch’s granddaughters, Shoko Suzuki. This a year after Michio left the position of president and joined the advisory board.
Michio’s family empire had no children waiting in line, so Osamu took Suzuki’s call and began climbing the corporate ladder.
In the years that followed, three other successive sons had stints at the top of Suzuki, but none had the luck or longevity that Osamu would have when he took the reins of Suzuki in 1978.
Known for his jovial nature and frank remarks, he did not hesitate to address the company in the smaller, lower-budget segment of the automotive market.
He would also regularly acknowledge that Suzuki was trailing behind Japanese giants like Honda and Toyota in sales — once calling himself an “old guy from a small to mid-size company.”
MSH/DJ (AP, DPA)