Ex-Toyota head Tatsuro Toyoda, who led overseas drive, dies
TOKYO — Tatsuro Toyoda, the former Toyota Motor Corp. president who led the company’s climb to become one of the world’s top automakers, has died. He was 88.
Toyoda, a son of the company’s founder, died Dec. 30 of pneumonia, the Japanese automaker said Saturday.
Toyoda, the automaker’s seventh president, stepped down from the position in 1995, while continuing in other posts, such as adviser, a title he held until his death.
He was instrumental in setting up the California joint venture with U.S. rival General Motors called NUMMI, or New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., which began production in 1984. At that time, it was heralded as a pioneer in international collaborations in the industry.