Kiichiro Toyoda
Sold his father's loom patents to Britain and bet the proceeds on building Japanese cars.
- Born
- 1894 · Kosai, Shizuoka, Japan
- Roots
- Japanese
- Family
- Middle class
- Son of loom inventor Sakichi Toyoda, whose automatic-loom patents made the family's fortune during Kiichiro's youth.
- Education
- Tokyo Imperial University (mechanical engineering)
- Started with
- A patent sale
- His father's automatic-loom rights were licensed to Britain's Platt Brothers in 1929 for about £100,000, bankrolling the car project.
- Affiliations & societies
- None documented.
- Information only — claims like these are often unverifiable and may be wrong.
The pathway
- 1929 · age 35The Platt Brothers deal£100K
Travels to England to license the automatic loom; the fee seeds automotive research.
- 1933 · age 39An auto department inside a loom works
Reverse-engineers American engines in a corner of the family factory.
- 1936 · age 42Model AA
The first Toyoda passenger car.
- 1937 · age 43Toyota Motor Co.
The spelling is changed from Toyoda — eight brush strokes being luckier.
- 1950 · age 55Resigns in the crisis
Takes responsibility for layoffs in a postwar cash crunch; dies in 1952 before a planned return.
- 1957Legacy
The just-in-time ideas he championed grow into the Toyota Production System.
Sources
Compiled from these references and contemporaneous press reporting. Figures are approximate; verify before relying on them.