TOKYO: Suzuki Motor Corp. Chairman Osamu Suzuki will step down after more than 40 years of leading the Japanese automaker, the company said Wednesday.

Suzuki led the automaker’s growth to be a global company earning 3 trillion yen in annual sales. He will retire from the post after a shareholders meeting in June and become an adviser.

The 91-year-old charismatic business leader steps down after laying the groundwork for the automaker to join the new trends of electrification and autonomous driving.

At an online press conference, he said the company’s management will be overhauled to make way for younger people, as the company needs to sustain growth amid a rapidly changing business environment.

Suzuki’s eldest son and the company’s president, Toshihiro, 61, will take up the leadership after his father’s retirement.

After working for a bank, Osamu Suzuki joined the company in 1958 and became president in 1978. He relinquished the post of president in 2015.

In the 1980s, Suzuki Motor entered the automobile business in India ahead of domestic rivals, where it successfully grew to become the company’s driving force. Suzuki Motor long remained the top passenger vehicle company in the country in terms of sales.

In Japan, Suzuki Motor expanded its business as a top minivehicle maker under Osamu Suzuki’s leadership.

In August 2019, the company signed a capital partnership with Toyota Motor Corp. to pave the way toward adopting cutting-edge information- and environment-related technologies, which would have been difficult alone.

Suzuki said, “I hope the new management will lay the groundwork for 2030, and even further toward 2050,” focusing on electrification and quality improvement.

On Wednesday, Suzuki Motor released its medium-term business plan, expecting group sales to grow to a record 4.8 trillion yen in the fiscal year ending March 2026 from 3 trillion yen five years before.

The global sales goal for the year was put at 3.7 million units, up from 2.38 million units.

The company will spend 1 trillion yen over the next five years on research and development for electrification and other technologies.

JIJI Press