TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Osamu Suzuki, the former charismatic head of Suzuki Motor Corp. who turned the Japanese minivehicle maker into a global player with an overwhelming dominance in India's car market, has died, the company said Friday. He was 94.

Before stepping down as the company's chairman and leaving its board in June 2021 at age 91, Suzuki was at its helm for over 40 years, serving as either president, chairman or CEO since 1978.

Suzuki, senior adviser at the automaker, died of malignant lymphoma on Wednesday at a hospital in Hamamatsu in the central prefecture of Shizuoka, the company said.

Under his guidance, the company saw its consolidated sales, which stood at around 300 billion yen ($1.9 billion) in 1978 when he first assumed the presidency, expand tenfold to surpass 3 trillion yen for the first time in fiscal 2006.

Suzuki played a crucial role as president of the automaker when it decided to team up with Maruti Udyog Ltd., then a state-run Indian carmaker and launched joint production of the Maruti 800 in the world's most populous nation in December 1983.

The small car, cheaper than rival vehicles at the time, won the hearts of Indian consumers, propelling the growth of the joint venture, which later became a Suzuki subsidiary and changed its name to Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.

According to the Japan External Trade Organization, Maruti Suzuki India controlled 41.7 percent of India's car market in fiscal 2023. Its closest rival, South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co., had a 14.6 percent share.

Born on Jan. 30, 1930, in Gifu Prefecture, central Japan, Suzuki joined the automaker in 1958 when he married into its founding family. He took the family name of his wife, the daughter of Shunzo Suzuki, who was president of the company.

After becoming president in 1978, Suzuki set out to transform the company -- founded as Suzuki Loom Manufacturing Co. in 1920 and still headquartered in Hamamatsu -- into one of Japan's leading automakers.

While other Japanese automakers were eager to gain a firm footing in the U.S. and Chinese markets, he focused resources on the production of minivehicles in Japan and the output of compact cars in emerging economies such as India and Southeast Asian nations, as well as Hungary in central Europe.

Minivehicles, also known as kei cars, have become a hugely popular category in Japan, with Suzuki and Daihatsu Motor Co. long dominating the market. The segment accounted for over 30 percent of the country's new car sales in 2023.

This vehicle category, smaller and often more affordable than regular cars, is particularly in high demand in rural areas with limited public transportation, thanks to its lower ownership costs, including reduced car tax and insurance premiums.

Suzuki Motor, which also makes motorcycles, pulled the plug on its automobile business in the United States and China in 2012 and 2018, respectively, as their consumers generally favor bigger cars and not the compact vehicles sold by the company.

As part of efforts to strengthen its environmental technologies, Suzuki Motor reached a business and capital tie-up with Volkswagen AG in 2009.

However, the Japanese carmaker terminated the partnership in 2015 after years of dispute over control of its management. Suzuki Motor sought arbitration from the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce to buy back the entire equity stake held by the German auto giant.

Osamu Suzuki eventually took the lead in forming a capital alliance with Toyota Motor Corp. in 2019 in a bid to co-develop self-driving vehicles, as the auto industry faces intensifying competition amid a once-in-a-century transformation to so-called CASE, or connected, autonomous, shared and electric mobility technologies.

"He was an admired father figure who developed minivehicles and nurtured them into national cars," Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda said in a statement. "He had the determination as a manager, as a defender of Japan's unique car culture known as kei."

Suzuki stepped down as president in 2015 at age 85 when he handed the post to his son, Toshihiro Suzuki.