Otto Explains — Brand History
The History of Toyota
Short Answer
Toyota began inside Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, the company of the loom inventor Sakichi Toyoda, when his son Kiichiro set up an automotive division there on 1 September 1933. Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. followed on 28 August 1937. The company grew with the Crown of 1955 and the Corolla of 1966, combined its manufacturing and sales companies into Toyota Motor Corporation on 1 July 1982, and launched Lexus in 1989 and the Prius in 1997. Today it is led by President Kenta Kon, with Akio Toyoda as chairman.
How did a loom maker become a carmaker?
Toyota's story starts with looms. Sakichi Toyoda, born on 14 February 1867 in Shizuoka Prefecture, received his first patent, for a wooden hand loom, on 14 May 1891. At the end of the 1890s he built Japan's first power loom, and its ability to stop itself when a thread broke became the idea Toyota calls jidoka: stop the moment something is wrong, so a fault never travels further. In the mid-1920s came the Type G automatic loom, which changed shuttles without stopping, and on 18 November 1926 Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd. was founded in Kariya, Aichi Prefecture, with Risaburo Toyoda as president.
Who was Kiichiro Toyoda?
Kiichiro Toyoda (1894-1952) was Sakichi's son and the founder of Toyota Motor Corporation. In 1929 he signed a patent transfer agreement with Platt Brothers of the United Kingdom, and on a journey to Europe and the United States between September 1929 and April 1930 he studied Ford's plants and the machine tools used to build cars. He began automotive research in 1930, and on 1 September 1933 an Automotive Production Division was established inside Toyoda Automatic Loom Works.
What were Toyota's first vehicles?
The first prototype of the Type A engine, an inline six of 3,389 cc and 65 hp based on sketches of a 1933 Chevrolet engine, ran on 25 September 1934. The Model A1 passenger car prototype followed in May 1935, and the Model G1 truck was presented in Tokyo on 21 and 22 November 1935. Improved versions, the Model AA passenger car and the Model GA truck, were assembled from 1936. Why the AA mattered so much is told in Otto's article on the legendary Toyotas.
Why is it Toyota and not Toyoda?
In July 1936 the automotive department held a public competition for a logo. On 25 September 1936 the winning design, the word Toyota in Japanese characters inside a circle, was chosen from about 27,000 entries, and it was registered as a trademark in April 1937. Toyota explains the change from Toyoda in three ways: the new name was simpler to design with and sounded better, its eight strokes in Japanese were associated with good fortune, and leaving the family name behind marked the move from a family business to a wider company. The emblem of three ellipses used today arrived on 2 October 1989, for the company's 50th anniversary.
When was Toyota Motor Co. founded?
Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. was registered on 28 August 1937, with capital of 12 million yen, Risaburo Toyoda as president and Kiichiro Toyoda as executive vice president. Its Koromo Plant, today the Honsha Plant, was completed in 1938 and opened with a ceremony on 3 November 1938, planned for 2,000 vehicles a month. There Kiichiro introduced Just-in-Time: make only what is needed, when it is needed, and no more. Wartime shortages interrupted the idea, but annual production in Japan still reached 10,000 in 1939.
What happened to Toyota after the war?
Cumulative production in Japan reached 100,000 in 1947, but in 1949 a recession left Toyota with unsold vehicles and monthly losses, and in 1950 the company went through a crisis. Toyota Motor Sales Co., Ltd. was set up as a separate company on 3 April 1950, a labour dispute began on 9 April, and on 5 June 1950 Kiichiro Toyoda resigned to take responsibility. In January 1952 he instructed the development of a full passenger car, and he died suddenly in March 1952. Two results of those years shaped the company: the Land Cruiser line, which began as the Toyota Jeep BJ on 1 August 1951, and the Toyopet Crown of 7 January 1955, which Toyota describes as its first mass-production passenger car built with its own technology.
How did Toyota grow beyond Japan?
Exports to the Middle East began in 1955, when one Land Cruiser went to Saudi Arabia, and in 1982 the region became Toyota's second-largest export market after North America. In Oman, Toyota signed its first distributor agreement in April 1975. Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. was founded on 31 October 1957, and Crown exports to the United States began in 1958. At home the Motomachi Plant opened in 1959, Toyota formed partnerships with Hino in 1966 and Daihatsu in 1967, and the Corolla, launched in November 1966, became Japan's best-selling car within three years.
When did Toyota Motor Corporation begin?
From 1950 Toyota's manufacturing and sales companies worked separately. On 1 July 1982 they merged to form Toyota Motor Corporation, with Eiji Toyoda as chairman and Shoichiro Toyoda as president. Production abroad followed: NUMMI, a 50:50 joint venture with GM in Fremont, California, was established in February 1984, and in January 1986 Toyota set up its own manufacturing companies in Kentucky and Canada. In September 1989 Toyota launched Lexus in the United States, and the new Toyota emblem appeared the same year.
How did Toyota become known for hybrids?
On 25 March 1997 Toyota announced the Toyota Hybrid System, and in December 1997 it launched the Prius, which it describes as the world's first mass-produced hybrid passenger car. By 31 January 2017 it had sold 10.05 million hybrids. In December 2014 it added the Mirai, a hydrogen fuel-cell car. How these drives differ is explained in Otto's guide to hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric cars.
What were Toyota's hardest years?
In 2009 Toyota recorded its first loss since its founding, 461 billion yen, in the global financial crisis, and in the same year Akio Toyoda became president. Toyota left Formula 1 that year after entering in 2002. Recalls followed: one for floor mats that could trap the accelerator pedal covered 6.1 million vehicles worldwide, and another for a sticking accelerator pedal 4.44 million. In 2010 Akio Toyoda testified at a congressional hearing in the United States, and in 2011 the Great East Japan Earthquake disrupted production.
What has changed at Toyota since 2012?
In 2012 Toyota introduced TNGA, the Toyota New Global Architecture, a common basis for its cars and powertrains. In 2018 it declared at CES its shift to a mobility company, and in 2020 it unveiled Woven City. Motorsport moved closer to the road cars: the GAZOO Racing name goes back to 2007, when Akio Toyoda raced at the Nurburgring as Morizo, Toyota grouped its racing under TOYOTA GAZOO Racing in April 2015, won the Le Mans 24 Hours for the first time in June 2018, and in January 2026 announced a return to the name GAZOO Racing.
Who runs Toyota today?
As of October 2026, Kenta Kon has been President and CEO of Toyota Motor Corporation since 1 April 2026. He succeeded Koji Sato, president from 2023, who became vice chairman and chief industry officer, and Akio Toyoda is chairman. The head office is at 1 Toyota-cho, Toyota City, in Aichi Prefecture, and the company had 390,927 employees on a consolidated basis on 31 March 2026. Lexus, launched in 1989, is Toyota's luxury brand, with its own series of Otto articles.
Common Questions
- Is Toyota connected to the Toyoda family? Yes. Kiichiro Toyoda, son of the loom inventor Sakichi Toyoda, founded the company, and the name Toyota was chosen in a 1936 logo competition. Akio Toyoda, its chairman as of October 2026, is part of the same family.
- Where is Toyota based? In Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The head office is at 1 Toyota-cho, next to the Honsha Plant, which opened in 1938 as the Koromo Plant.
- Is Lexus part of Toyota? Yes. Toyota launched Lexus in the United States in September 1989 as its luxury brand. Otto covers Lexus in its own series of articles.
- What does the Toyota emblem mean? The emblem introduced on 2 October 1989 has three ellipses. Toyota says the two inner ones stand for the customer and the company and together form a T, and the outer one stands for the world that embraces Toyota.
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