Kiichiro Toyoda, founder of the Toyota Motor Corporation, which
in 2008 surpassed America's General Motors as the world's
largest automaker, dies at the age of 57 in Japan on this day
1952. Toyoda was born in Japan on June 11, 1894. His father
Sakichi Toyoda was an inventor of textile machinery, including
an automatic loom, and founded Toyoda Loom Works. (People called
him "Japan's Thomas Edison.") By the late 1920s, Kiichiro
Toyoda, who worked for his father's company, had begun plans to
develop an automobile. (Sakichi Toyoda died on October 30, 1930,
at the age of 63.) In 1933, Kiichiro Toyoda established an auto
division within Toyoda Loom Works, which released a prototype
vehicle two years later. In 1937, Toyota Motor Corporation was
formed as a spinoff of Toyoda Loom Works. ("Toyota" was
reportedly considered a luckier name than "Toyoda" and is easier
to write in Japanese characters). The new car company initially
looked to the U.S. auto industry for inspiration. According to
The New York Times: "Over th