Toyota

History

Origins in Toyota Automatic Loom -1936

The origins of the company are found as an automobile section of Toyoda Automatic Loom, implemented in September 1933. Quickly thereafter the section produced its first Type A Engine in 1934, used for the production of the first Model A1 passenger car in May 1935 and the G1 truck in August 1935. Production of the model AA passenger car started in 1936.

Establishment of Toyota Motor Co. and WWII 1936-1946

Toyota Motor Co. was established as an independent company in 1937. Although the founding family name is Toyoda (豊田), the company name was changed to

• Signify the separation of the founders' work life from home life;
• Simplify the pronunciation, and
• Give the company an auspicious beginning. Toyota (トヨタ) is considered luckier than Toyoda (トヨダ) due to the fact that eight is a lucky number, and is the number of strokes it takes to write Toyota in Katakana.

During World War II, the company was dedicated to truck production for the Imperial Army. Because of severe shortages in Japan, military trucks were kept as simple as possible. For example, the trucks had only one headlight on the center of the hood.

Fortunately for Toyota, the war ended shortly before a scheduled allied bombing run on the Toyota factories in Aichi.

Start of Commercial Production 1947-

Commercial passenger car production started in 1947 with the model SA. In 1950 a separate sales company Toyota Motor Sales Co. was established (which lasted until July 1982). In April 1956 the Toyopet dealer chain was established.

Today Toyota is one of the top car manufacturers with large market shares in both the US and Europe. It has a small car division, selling under the Daihatsu brand as well as a heavy vehicle division, selling under the Hino brand.

Toyota is Japan's biggest car company and one of the three largest in the world (The first being America's General Motors, and Germany's Volkswagen second), and is immensely profitable. Its massive cash reserves dwarf those of many countries. Toyota's vehicles are generally highly regarded for their quality, proficient engineering, and value, but their designs are viewed as anonymous and lacking the flair of smaller manufacturers. Toyota offers one of the largest ranges of vehicles of any manufacturer and does, amongst its more predictable high-volume models, produce a number of exciting sports cars, particularly, the Celica, MR2 and Supra.

Worldwide Presence

Toyota has factories all over the world, manufacturing or assembling vehicles for local markets, including its most popular model, the Corolla. Toyota has manufacturing or assembly plants in United States, where it builds more cars than Ford, Australia, Indonesia, South Africa, the United Kingdom and France. Cars from these plants are often exported to other countries. For example, the South African-built Toyota Corolla is exported to Australia, while the Australian-built Camry is exported (in left hand drive) to countries in the Middle East. Between 1997 and 2000, the number one selling car in the U.S. was the Toyota Camry. It was dethroned in 2001 by the Honda Accord, only to regain its place in 2002, with the introduction of a redesigned model.

Toyota also produces a range of SUVs. Indeed, one of its first export markets was exporting its Landcruiser model to Australia in the late 1950s.

Toyota also contributes a great amount of research to cleaner-burning vehicles (See: Toyota Prius). In 2002, Toyota successfully road-tested a new version of the RAV4 which ran on a Hydrogen Fuel Cell. Scientific American made the company its Business Leader of the Year in 2003 for commercializing an affordable hybrid car. In 2004, Toyota showed that it had made its Highlander into the world's first mass-market seven-passenger hybrid SUV (CanadianDriver Communications, 2004).

In 2003, Toyota brought two of their popular cars from Japan (including the bB) to America, and created a new badge, called Scion, meaning a descendant or heir. These cars are targeted towards the young, and young-at-heart. Both models, the xA and xB are powered by a 1.5L DOHC I4 engine taken right out of the Toyota Echo, a derivative work of the Toyota Tercel.

Toyota has also been successful in racing, especially in Rally with the Toyota Celica. In 2002 Toyota started racing in Formula One with the Toyota Team Europe (TTE) and is based in Cologne (Germany).

Toyota is also famous in industry for its manufacturing philosophy, called the Toyota Production System. This system is copied worldwide by many manufacturing companies.

The Toyota Group contains the following companies, in order of founding:

• Toyoda Boshoku Co., Ltd. (founded January 1918, merged with Toyota Motor Co. November 1943, became independent again in May 1950 as Minsei Spinning Co., Ltd., changed name to Toyoda Boshoku Co. in August 1967, merged with Toyota Kako Co., Ltd. October 2000)
• Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd., now called Toyota Industries Co. (founded November 1926)
• Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. (founded August 1937)
• Aichi Steel Works, Ltd. (founded March 1940)
• Toyoda Machine Works, Ltd. (founded May 1941)
• Kanto Auto Works, Ltd. (founded July 1942)
• Toyota Auto Body, Ltd. (founded August 1945)
• Toyoda Tsusho Kaisha, Ltd., now called Toyota Tsusho Co. (founded July 1948
• Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd. (founded June 1949)
• Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. (founded July 1949)
• Nippondenso Co., Ltd., now called Denso Co. (founded December 1949)
• Toyota Motor Sales Co., Ltd. (founded April 1950, merged with Toyota Motor Corp. July 1982)
• Toyoda Spinning & Weaving Co., Ltd. (founded May 1950)
• Towa Real Estate Co., Ltd. (Founded August 1953)
• Toyota Central Research and Development Laboratories, Inc. (founded November 1960)
• Hino Motors, Ltd. (founded October 1966)
• Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd. (founded November 1967)

Namesakes

Toyota is also a city in Aichi, Japan, named after the corporation. The basketball and hockey stadium in Houston, Texas, the Toyota Center, is also named after the company.

A partial list of concepts

The following is a partial list of concept cars developed by Toyota.

• Toyota FTX

See also

Lexus, Scion, Eiji Toyoda.

External links

• Toyota Motor Corp. websites
  • Toyota Motor official site
  • Toyota USA
  • Scion USA (requires flash)
  • Current Japanese Toyota lineup
  • Current American Toyota lineup (requires Flash)
• Toyota Industries official site
• Toyota Central Research and Development official site
• Aichi Steel Co. official site
• Toyota Tsusho Co. official site
• Aishin Seiki Co. official site
• Denso Co. official site
• Toyoda Boshoku official site
• Toyoda Gosei official site

References

• CanadianDriver Communications, Inc. (2004). Toyota shows 2005 Highlander Hybrid. Retrieved January 11, 2004 from http://www.canadiandriver.com/news/040105-13.htm

Referenced By