Former Toyota head Hiroshi Okuda, credited with championing the pioneering Prius hybrid and turning the Japanese automaker into a global titan, has died aged 93, the firm said Wednesday.

At the time, the viability of electric vehicles as a large market was a pipedream, and the Prius was the world’s first mass-produced petrol and electric hybrid.

The segment, still dominated today by Japanese firms, has won new popularity in recent years among customers put off by high prices for pure EVs and expensive fuel.

Okuda also oversaw the opening of Toyota factories abroad on the firm’s way to overtaking General Motors as the world’s largest automaker by vehicle sales.

The outspoken Okuda, a black belt in karate, also headed Japan’s largest business lobby Keidanren and was for years a close government adviser.

Okuda also once crossed a jungle to meet leftist guerrillas in the Philippines when he ran Toyota’s local operations there in the early 1970s, Bloomberg News reported.

Toyota confirmed to AFP that Okuda had passed away but gave no further details.

AFP