Nepotism at its finest

And yet, they've built the most reliable cars.

Having my grandkids running my family business is nepotism? Whatever.

Most probably it literally is nepotism.

It’s possible that for two generations in a row the most qualified person to succeed the previous was a family member, but it’s nowhere near as common as actually happens in practice in family businesses.

It’s also your family’s right to do that, so there’s no need to pretend it’s not nepotism.

In Japan it is quite common for an unrelated executive to be chosen as the successor, and they will then either marry a daughter of the CEO or even be adopted by him before taking over. This ensures that the company remains a “family business” (a desirable label in Japan) but it isn’t necessarily by blood, rather they become family via their success in the business.

So it’s often not nepotism as we know it - it’s almost reverse nepotism!

Edit: This is not the case for the Toyodas, however. All leaders of Toyota were indeed descended from the founder.

Note that There's more than natural selection at play here. I wouldn't be surprised if the offspring have been groomed from a very early age to take over the company. Is it such a surprise that they would seem best fit?

It's the literal definition

Toyota is a public company. The Toyoda family owns less than 2% of the company's stocks.