Toyota ex-chief Okuda, pioneer of the Prius, dead at 93

TOKYO: 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 on Wednesday (Aug 12).Okuda took the reins of the struggling firm in 1995 as the first person from outside the founding family in decades, and pushed innovative products such as the RAV4 and Prius.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