On this day, June 11 in the year 1894, the founder of Toyota Motors Corporation was born in Japan. His name is Kiichiro Toyoda, the son of Sakichi Toyoda who is considered the king of Japanese inventors.

As early as 1929, Kiichiro had a dream to produce cars in Japan. He travelled to Europe and the United States to study automotive manufacturing. When his father died in 1930, he inherited the Toyoda Loom Works Company. In 1934, he established a division to produce vehicle, encouraged by the government which at that time was at war with China. In 1937, he incorporated Toyota Motors as an independent and separate company.

In 1941, Kiichiro became the president of Toyota Motors. He presided over the production of thousands of vehicles needed by the Japanese army. When the war was over, a lot of problems faced the company. Amid falling sales due to economic difficulties, the company was on the brink of bankruptcy.

In 1952, Kiichiro died, two years after he stepped down as president. Kiichiro’s son, Shoichiro, became president of the company from 1982 to 1992 while his grandson, Akio, took the helm of the business in 2009.