In 1981, Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. announced plans to merge with its sales entity Toyota Motor Sales Co., Ltd. Since 1950, the two entities existed as separate companies due to a prerequisite for reconstruction in postwar Japan. Shoichiro Toyoda presided over Toyota Motor Sales in preparation for the consummation of the merger that occurred in 1982—Shoichiro then succeeded his uncle Eiji as the President of the combined organization that then became known as Toyota Motor Corporation.