Toyota

Lore & Background

The company was founded as a spinoff of Toyota Industries, a machine maker started by Sakichi Toyoda, Kiichiro's father. Both companies are now part of the Toyota Group. While still a department of Toyota Industries, the company developed its first product, the Type A engine, in 1934 and its first passenger car in 1936, the Toyota AA. In the 1960s, Toyota took advantage of the rapidly growing Japanese economy to sell cars to a growing middle-class, leading to the development of the Toyota Corolla.

Toyota was the world's first automobile manufacturer to produce more than 10 million vehicles per year, a record set in 2012. By September 2023, total production reached 300 million vehicles. Toyota was praised for being a leader in the development and sales of more fuel-efficient hybrid electric vehicles, starting with the introduction of the original Toyota Prius in 1997. The company now sells more than 40 hybrid vehicle models around the world.

More recently, the company has also been criticized for being slow to adopt all-electric vehicles, instead focusing on the development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, like the Toyota Mirai.

Reader's Guide

Toyota produces vehicles under four brands: Century, Daihatsu, Lexus and the namesake Toyota. The company also holds a 20% stake in Subaru Corporation, a 5.1% stake in Mazda, a 4.9% stake in Suzuki, a 4.6% stake in Isuzu, and a 3.8% stake in Yamaha Motor Corporation, as well as stakes in vehicle manufacturing joint-ventures in China (FAW Toyota and GAC Toyota), the Czech Republic (TPCA), India (Toyota Kirloskar) and the United States (MTMUS). Toyota is listed on the London Stock Exchange, Nagoya Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange, and on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, where its stock is a component of the Nikkei 225 and TOPIX Core30 indices.