Overview
- Toyota confirmed that Hiroshi Okuda has died at age 93 and said the date and cause of death and details on surviving family were not yet available.
- Okuda served as Toyota president and then chairman during the 1990s and 2000s, directing the company from the top from 1995 through 2006.
- He launched the Vision 2005 plan to cut engineering costs and build production bases in key overseas markets, a strategy that helped overseas sales more than double and global sales rise roughly two‑thirds over a decade.
- Okuda accelerated the Prius program, bringing Toyota to market early with a mass‑produced hybrid in 1997 that helped define the company’s reputation for fuel efficiency and influenced the auto industry’s move to hybrids.
- A rare leader from outside the Toyoda family, Okuda pushed merit‑based management, publicly challenged family dominance, and later led major business bodies such as Keidanren while funeral arrangements remain in preparation by his family.