Great grandson to the founder of Toyoda Automatic Loomworks, and grandson to the Toyota Motors founder, Akio Toyoda was born May 3, 1956, at Nagoya to Shoichiro Toyoda and Hiroko née Mitsui. As the great grandson of Sakichi Toyoda, patent holding Inventor of a long line of steam, oil, and electric Looms, Toyoda's talented family line have long dominated the upper management of the family bussinesses, since the days his carpenter-farmer great great grandfather, Ikichi Toyoda taught his son fabrication and carpentry. Like Toyoda's Father, Shoichiro Toyoda, his 52-year-old son, Akio Toyoda, was the chief contender for the family Business when Katsuaki Watanabe was reassigned as Vice-Chairman, in the wake of the quality control crisis.