Toyota founder’s son, who led global growth, dies at 97

By YURI KAGEYAMA
AP Business Writer

TOKYO (AP) — Shoichiro Toyoda, who as a son of the company’s founder oversaw Toyota’s expansion into international markets, has died. He was 97. The company said Toyoda, its honorary chairman, died Tuesday of heart failure. Toyoda was the father of Akio Toyoda, who recently announced he was stepping down as the automaker’s president and chief executive to become its chairman. Shoichiro Toyoda was the eldest son of Kiichiro Toyoda, who founded Toyota in 1937. Although the Toyota brand became synonymous with quality, both father and son experienced difficult years of “Japan-bashing,” when powerful Japanese exporters like Toyota were blamed for taking away American blue-collar jobs.