Toyota Kirloskar Motor Vice Chairman Vikram Kirloskar passes away

Vikram Kirloskar, vice chairman of Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt. and a major figure in India’s automotive sector, passed away on Tuesday in Bengaluru at the age of 64.

Following this unfortunate event, the carmaker put out a statement, which did not mention what caused his death, but initial reports said he suffered a massive heart attack.

A fourth-generation member of the group founded by Laxmanrao Kirloskar in 1888, Vikram Kirloskar joined the business after college as a production-engineering trainee at Kirloskar Cummins in Pune.

Vikram Kirloskar, a pioneer of India's automotive industry, played a key role in bringing Japan's Toyota Motor Corp to India in the late 1990s.

Known in the industry as a "Passionate Engineer", which is also his LinkedIn profile's description, Kirloskar played a key role in partnering with Toyota and bringing it to India.