Eiji Toyoda, Father of Toyota Motors, Dies

Eiji Toyoda, the Toyota Motor Corp. president and chairman who turned the company into a global giant, died on Tuesday of heart failure. He was 100 years old.

Toyoda became the company's president in 1967 and chairman in 1982. When he retired a decade later, he was made honorary chairman. A cousin of Toyota founder Kiichiro Toyoda, he was the longest-serving of the company's 11 presidents.

Eiji Toyoda is credited with guiding Toyota from its origins as a pre-World War II producer of cheap, low-quality cars for the Japanese market to the world's largest and richest carmaker.

Toyota's tenure at the carmaker began with the company's shaky entrance into the American market in the 1960s and extended through its global production expansion, launch of the Lexus luxury car brand and surging popularity of its hybrid cars.

He championed the creation and implementation of the company's legendary Toyota Production System, which is based on just-in-time supply and a focus on continuous improvement. The process has been widely imitated by manufacturers worldwide.