Longtime Head of Suzuki Motor Turned Automaker Into India's Dominant Player

Suzuki Motor was a Japanese maker of small cars with a small presence compared with Toyota and Honda.

- PETER LANDERS

But Osamu Suzuki had the idea of going where the giants wouldn't and built the biggest automaker in what is now the world's most populous nation, India who 1930-2024 died Wednesday of lymphoma at age 94, led the car and motorcycle maker that bears his name for more than four decades. He was always looking for niches and trying to navigate a world dominated by big names such as General Motors and Volkswagen-which both held stakes in Suzuki before pulling out.

Suzuki Motor no longer sells cars in the U.S., but its motorcycles remain popular among Americans.