Osamu Suzuki, former chairman at Suzuki Motor Corporation has passed away

Most of us began driving in a Maruti Suzuki, or have driven one at one point or another. In fact, it was the Maruti 800 that put India on wheels, with a package that allowed affordable, efficient and reliable motoring, an experience unlike the Fiats and the Hindustan Ambassadors of those days. The 800 went on to become India’s version of the people’s car, but the Maruti story would be incomplete without Suzuki, the Japanese carmaker that helped create a partnership which led to the creation of India’s biggest carmaker. And today is a sad day, because the company’s former chairman Osamu Suzuki passed away, aged 94, on December 25.

Osamu Suzuki helped forge the partnership with Maruti, creating India's largest carmaker and cars like the Maruti 800

Osamu Suzuki joined the company in 1958 and led it for more than 40 years, until he stepped down as chairman in 2021, moving to a senior advisory position after that to stay in touch with the company’s affairs. In 2007, he was also awarded the prestigious Padma Bhushan by the Indian Government, notably for his efforts that went into making Maruti Suzuki India’s largest car maker. Maruti’s model lineup may have gone from humble, dinky little hatchbacks like the Zen and the Alto to more desirable offerings like the Maruti Suzuki Brezza, the Dzire and the Grand Vitara in recent years, but it is the support of Suzuki in those initial years of the 1980s that made it all possible, ushering in an automobile revolution in India. Osamu Suzuki may have been gone, but he certainly won’t be forgotten for playing a pivotal role in Indian automotive history.