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Hiroshi Okuda, an executive that helped transform Toyota into a global powerhouse and hybrid pioneer, died this week at the age of 93. His death, attributed to natural causes, was confirmed Thursday in a press release from the automaker.
Okuda served as CEO and then chairman of Toyota from 1995 to 2006, part of a 45-year career with the automaker. He’s generally credited with pushing for development of the Prius, which launched on his watch in 1997 in Toyota’s home market. That earned Okuda the appellation “father of the Prius,” although the breakthrough hybrid had many parents. Takeshi Uchiyamada has also been called the “father of the Prius” because he oversaw the development program, but he received his marching orders from Okuda, who also pushed to have the car ready for production a year earlier than the original timeline called for.
Toyota
Born in central Japan, Okuda graduated from Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo in 1955 and began working for Toyota almost immediately after that. He eventually rose into the top executive ranks despite not being part of the founding Toyoda family, which still exerts a great deal of control over the company.
In addition to championing the Prius, Okuda is generally credited with enabling Toyota’s growth into the dominant Japanese automaker, one that most often goes toe to toe with the biggest international firms like General Motors and the Volkswagen Group. He oversaw expansions of production capacity in Europe and the U.S., putting Toyota in an ideal position as the Camry became the dominant car in the U.S. market in the 1990s.
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Okuda also advocated promotion of younger managers during his tenure, according to AP News. While this usually meant promoting men (it was inevitably men at the time) in their 50s rather than their 60s, that was still a big shift from Japanese corporate norms. And it demonstrated pragmatic leadership that made Toyota so formidable in the late 1990s, arguably the golden age of the Japanese auto industry as a whole.
Cars like the Prius and Camry aren’t exactly fun, but they’ve shaped the modern car industry. Okuda undoubtedly deserves a place in the automotive history books.
Stephen has always been passionate about cars, and managed to turn that passion into a career as a freelance automotive journalist. When he’s not handling weekend coverage for The Drive, you can find him looking for a new book to read.
