by Osamu Suzuki: Former Suzuki Motor Corporation chairman Osamu Suzuki died at the age of 94. The company announced that he died of lymphoma on December 25. Osamu Suzuki will be remembered for expanding the company’s network and making it reach around the world. Suzuki’s partnership with Indian company Maruti also happened during his tenure.
Osamu Matsuda was born on January 30, 1930 in Gero, Japan. He joined this business house after marrying into the Suzuki family in 1958. He added his wife’s name to as his surname. And from here began a transformative journey of Suzuki Motor Corporation. At the time of marriage, Osamu was a bank employee and he married Shoko Suzuki. Shoko was the granddaughter of Michio Suzuki, the founder of Suzuki Motor, a loom manufacturer established in 1909.
Osamu led the company for almost 40 years. During this time he served as a president twice. Under his guidance, Suzuki Motor entered into strategic partnerships with General Motors and Volkswagen to expand its network in North America and Europe. Today, the Suzuki has a become a big name in the automobile world. The company has a strong presence in the small cars to SUVs and even the two-wheeler industry.
Entry into India was the biggest step:
Osamu Suzuki took many big decisions in the interest of the company during his tenure. But Suzuki’s entry into the Indian market in the eighties was the most important decision. Suzuki Motor Corporation partnered with Maruti Udyog Private Limited in 1982 and introduced India’s most popular car Maruti 800. This car was launched in the year 1983, which has been the best-selling car in the country for many decades. Today Maruti Suzuki has become a largest car manufacturer in the country.
Osamu Suzuki’s tenure was full of challenges. He had to face the fuel-economy testing scandal in Japan, due to which he had to resign from the post of CEO in 2016. In the last years of his working life, he played the role of an advisor.
