Shōichirō Toyoda

Shoichiro Toyoda (豊田 章一郞, Toyoda Shōichirō, born February 27, 1925) is a retired Japanese business executive who served as chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation between 1992–1999, as well as chairman of the influential Japan Business Federation (日本経済団体連合会, Nippon Keidanren) beginning in May 1994 through May 1998. Under Toyoda's supervision, Toyota approved the development of the Lexus brand and the Prius hybrid.

Son to the company founder, Toyoda, in 1952, joined his father's business at Toyota Motors. In ten years, he had risen to the position of managing director. He was promoted to senior managing director in 1967, executive vice president in 1972, and president of the Company's marketing organization in 1981.

The merger of the sales and production organizations in 1982 produced Toyota Motor Corporation.Toyoda became the new entity's first president.The disparate nature of the two distinct corporate cultures required his attention, and the extent to which the "oil and water" of these two Toyota groups were merged successfully was attributed in large part to his leadership.He served as chairman from 1992 to 1999; and he became honorary chairman in 1999.

Toyoda's leadership would be integral to the global introduction into popular culture of the Lexus brand of luxury automobiles and environmentally focused Prius engine electric hybrids.

• 1980 – Deming Prize, Japan.
• 1993 – International Fellow Royal Academy of Engineering
• 2000 – FISITA Medal of the International Federation of Automotive Engineering Societies
• 2005 – Society of Automotive Engineers Foundation's Manufacturing Leadership Award, United States.
• 2007 – Induction into the Automotive Hall of Fame, Detroit, MI, USA

National honours (Japan)

• 1972 – Medal of Honor (Dark Blue Ribbon)
• November 1984 – Medal of Honor (Blue Ribbon).
• 1984, 1985 – Medal of Honor (Dark Blue Ribbon).
• April 1995 – Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure.
• April 2002 – Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun.
• November 2007 – Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers

Other national honours and decorations

• May 1986 – Grand Cross of the Order of Antonio Jose de Sucre of Venezuela
• September 1990 – Knight Commander of the Order of the Crown of Thailand
• April 1991 – Commander of the Order of Leopold of Belgium
• December 1991 – Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit of Colombia
• 1993 – Economic Medal First Class of Taiwan
• March 1995 – Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE), UK.
• September 1995 – Grand Cross of the Order of Francisco de Miranda, Venezuela.(Commander: October 1988)
• March 1996 – Ordem Nacional do Cruzeiro do Sul, Brazil.
• February 1998 – Order of Merit of the Republic of Turkey.
• June 1999 – Companion of the Order of Australia (AC)
• November 1999 – Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Star for Services to the Republic of Austria.
• March 2000 – Commander of the Order of Isabel the Catholic, Spain.
• May 2001 – Commander's Cross of the Bundesverdienstkreuz, Germany.
• April 2004 – Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, Poland.
• December 2004 – Knight Grand Cordon of the Order of the Direkgunabhorn, First Class, Thailand.
• March 2005 – Grand Officer of the Legion d'Honneur of France.(Commander: April 1998 )
• May 2005 – Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of Portugal (GCM)
• August 2005 – Grand Cross of the Order of Juan Mora Fernandez, Placa de Plata of Costa Rica
• September 2005 – Commander of the Order of the Equatorial Star of Gabon
• October 2007 – Knight Grand Cross with the Grand Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.(Grand Officer: June 1998 )
• April 2010 – Grand Collar of the Order of Lakandula of the Philippines

Grandson to the founder of Toyoda Automatic Loomworks, and son to the Toyota Motors founder, Shoichiro Toyoda was born in Nagoya on February 17, 1925, to Kiichiro Toyoda and Hatako née Shinshichi Toyoda, the daughter of the Takashimaya department store chain co-founder, Iida Shinshichi. He attended the Tokyo First Middle School (Hibiya High School) and First High School(Tokyo University), and graduated from Nagoya Imperial University (Nagoya University) in 1947 with a degree in Engineering BS. He would be awarded a PhD, by Tohoku University, in 1955. At the height of the pacific theater of World War II, the Toyoda family was effected on both family business and home fronts. Shoichiro's education would be delayed by his own conscription into civil service, and his father's business warrant to manufacture trucks for the imperial Japanese Army, of which his family's firm was spared destruction in the days before the Japanese government's surrender.

Family tree