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 became the company CEO in 1978 and was either chief executive, chairman or president until 2021, when — already in his 90s — he stepped down and took up an advisory role.
The beginning of his tenure coincided with some very important milestones in Suzuki’s expansion beyond the Japanese car market, such as the launch of the small Alto city car in 1979, which would move on to the older, best-selling Suzuki. 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 move was risky but the partnership worked. Suzuki has sold roughly one third of all its cars in India, making India comfortably the company’s most important market outside Japan.
The company was consistently among the top 10 sellers of motorcycles worldwide during most of Osamu Suzuki’s tenure, and 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 the World War II Japan’s government forbade the company from investing in “non-essential civilian production” and so its plans were shelved.
Shortly after the war, with its loom business threatened by automation and advances, Suzuki quickly returned to its transportation plans.
The first product destined for post-war Japan, still decimated, almost a precursor of an electric bicycle: an undisputed bicycle equipped with a small two-stroke gasoline engine with constant braking force for additional thrust: the Suzuki Power Free.
Michio was also ahead of its time with its first car, the SuzuLight, which anticipated 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 the name Suzuki and began to work his way up the corporate ladder.
In the years that followed, three other sons followed Suzuki’s helm, but none enjoyed the good fortune or longevity that Osamu would have enjoyed when he took over as CEO of Suzuki in 1978.
Known for his jovial nature and candid remarks, he did not shy away from the company’s focus on the smaller, budget end of the car market.
He also claimed that Suzuki was behind Japanese giants such as Honda and Toyota in terms of sales; He once called himself the “old man of a small or medium-sized business. ”
MSH/DJ (AP, DPA)