Kiichiro Toyoda

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Lore & Background

Kiichiro Toyoda was a Japanese engineer and businessman, born on June 11, 1894, in the village of Yoshitsu, Shizuoka Prefecture. His father, Sakichi Toyoda, was the founder of Toyoda Loom Works. Less than two months after his birth, his mother left him and his father, believing her husband was too absorbed in industrial inventions to attend to family life. Kiichiro was subsequently raised by his grandparents in Yoshitsu until age three, when he moved to Nagoya to live with his father. He excelled in his studies, eventually graduating from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Tokyo Imperial University in 1920, and later studied law there for several months. After university, he joined his father’s company, Toyota Boshoku, and traveled to the United States and England to learn about the spinning and weaving industry. In 1926, he established Toyota Industries Corporation and became its managing director. He also developed an interest in automatic looms, setting up a pilot plant despite his father’s initial disagreement. Traveling to Europe and America in 1929–1930, he recognized the future potential of the automobile industry. In 1933, he established an automobile manufacturing department within Toyota Industries, which became independent as Toyota Motor Corporation in 1937. Toyoda persuaded his father to invest in this risky expansion into automobiles. After Sakichi’s death, Kiichiro pursued automobile manufacturing, building on his family’s engineering expertise in steam, oil, and electric looms. He changed the company’s name from his family name for good luck. During World War II, his business was compelled to manufacture trucks for the Imperial Japanese Army. In 1950, facing flagging sales and profitability, he resigned from his leadership position. He died two years later, before witnessing Toyota’s later successes. His contemporaries later called him “Japan’s Thomas Edison.”

Reader's Guide

Kiichiro Toyoda’s decision to shift the family business from automatic loom manufacturing into automobile production was the foundational act that created what later became Toyota. Persuading his father, Sakichi, to invest in a concept automobiles division was considered a risk at the time, but Sakichi encouraged his son to pursue this dream shortly before his death. Kiichiro built on the family’s established engineering expertise, which had produced steam, oil, and electric looms. He changed the company’s name from his family’s name for good luck. After the automobile department was established within Toyota Industries Corporation in 1933, the venture was designated a licensed company under the Automotive Manufacturing Act in 1936, and Toyota Motor Corporation became independent in 1937. Kiichiro served as vice president and later as president during World War II, when the firm was compelled to manufacture trucks for the Imperial Japanese Army. In 1950, facing flagging sales and profitability, he resigned from leadership. He died two years later, never witnessing the company’s eventual successes. His contemporaries later called him “Japan’s Thomas Edison.” His cousin and confidant Eiji Toyoda succeeded him in 1957, building on Kiichiro’s expansion to turn Toyota into a world-class engineering conglomeration and later launching the Lexus luxury division. Kiichiro is credited with creating domestic cars from scratch that surpassed foreign models, and he is regarded as a key figure who paved the way for the Japanese automobile industry, which grew dramatically in the decades after his death.

Did You Know?

• Kiichiro Toyoda changed the company name from his family's name for good luck.
• His contemporaries dubbed him 'Japan's Thomas Edison.'