Otto Explains — Legendary Cars
The Legendary Cars That Defined Toyota
Short Answer
Seven cars changed Toyota as a company. The Model AA turned a loom maker into a carmaker, the Crown showed it could build a passenger car with its own technology and opened the American market, the Land Cruiser built its export business and its place in the Middle East, the Corolla made it a mass producer, the Hilux showed how to build cars in the countries that buy them, the Prius made hybrids its signature, and the GR Yaris brought racing back into its road cars.
How did Otto decide which cars changed Toyota?
Each car here is included for what it changed: what Toyota built, how it built it, where it sold, or which technology it was known for. Cars remembered mainly for their design, records or racing, such as the 2000GT, the AE86, the Celica GT-Four and the Supra, appear in Otto's list of ten iconic Toyotas instead. Company events appear only as the background to each car; the full chronology is in Otto's history of Toyota.
How did the Model AA make Toyota a carmaker?
In 1933 Kiichiro Toyoda started an automotive division inside his family's loom company, and the cars it produced decided what the business would become. A truck came first: the Model G1, shown in Tokyo in November 1935. The passenger car followed from the Model A1 prototype of May 1935 and became the Model AA, assembled from 1936 with the Type A six-cylinder engine. The AA's completion was celebrated with a public logo competition in 1936, which gave the company its new name, Toyota, and in August 1937 Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. was registered as a car company in its own right.
How did the Crown prove Toyota could build its own car?
When the Toyopet Crown went on sale on 7 January 1955, other Japanese carmakers were assembling kits from foreign partners. Toyota had developed the Crown entirely in Japan, with its own 1.5-litre R engine, and it calls the car its first mass-production passenger car built with its own domestic technology. The Crown also took Toyota abroad: Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. was set up in October 1957 and Crown exports began in 1958. The first cars struggled at American motorway speeds, with too little power, poor stability and strong vibration, and Toyota answered with improved versions in July 1960, an early lesson in building for each market.
How did the Land Cruiser build Toyota's export business?
The Land Cruiser began as the Toyota Jeep BJ of 1951, developed for Japan's National Police Reserve, and took its own name in 1954. With the civilian 20 Series of November 1955, Toyota began exporting it in large numbers, to Central and South America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The first export to Saudi Arabia, in April 1955, was a single Land Cruiser. Early exports were fewer than 100 a year, but by 1965 they passed 10,000 a year, and in 1982 the Middle East became Toyota's second-largest export market after North America.
How did the Corolla make Toyota a mass producer?
The Corolla, launched in November 1966, was planned as a small family car with an extra 100 cc over its 1,000 cc rivals, and it became Japan's best-selling car within three years. It then grew into a global car: in January 1986 Toyota set up a plant in Canada to build it, and by July 2021 Corolla sales had passed 50 million in more than 150 countries and regions. Toyota Motor Europe said in October 2026 that the total had passed 57 million in 60 years, with the car built in 14 production centres in 11 countries.
How did the Hilux change the way Toyota builds cars?
The Hilux began on 21 March 1968, conceived by Toyota and built by Hino, its name taken from high and luxury. Its seventh generation, launched in August 2004, changed how Toyota made it: it was the first Hilux not produced in Japan, built mainly in Thailand, South Africa and Argentina as part of the IMV project for more than 140 countries. The IMV family of three Hilux pickups, the Fortuner SUV and the Innova minivan was built in 11 locations and passed 5 million sales by the end of March 2012.
How did the Prius change Toyota's image?
The Prius of December 1997 made hybrids part of Toyota's identity. Toyota describes it as the world's first mass-produced hybrid passenger car, using the Toyota Hybrid System announced that March, in which a petrol engine, an electric motor and a generator share the work and the battery never needs plugging in. The second generation followed in September 2003 and the third in May 2009, with fuel efficiency in the Japanese test rising from 28 to 38, measured in kilometres per litre, and the cost of the hybrid system cut by two-thirds, and by January 2017 Toyota had sold 10.05 million hybrids. Otto compares these drives in hybrid vs plug-in hybrid vs electric.
How did the GR Yaris bring racing back into Toyota's road cars?
The GR Yaris, unveiled on 10 January 2020, was built the other way round from most road cars: Toyota designed it as a homologation model to win the World Rally Championship, with a 1.6-litre three-cylinder turbo of 272 PS and GR-FOUR all-wheel drive, and built it on a dedicated line at the Motomachi Plant. It came from GAZOO Racing, the name Akio Toyoda first raced under in 2007, and it showed what Toyota's motorsport team could put on the road. Toyota keeps developing it through racing, and the Type 26 of 2026 has 304 PS. Otto explains how turbochargers work.
Common Questions
- How many Corollas have been sold? Toyota Motor Europe said on 21 October 2026 that the Corolla had passed 57 million sales worldwide in 60 years and 12 generations.
- When did the Land Cruiser arrive in the Gulf? Toyota's exports to the Middle East began in 1955, when a single Land Cruiser was shipped to Saudi Arabia in April, and the 20 Series of that year began full-scale exports to the region.
- Was the Prius Toyota's first hybrid? Not quite. The Coaster Hybrid EV, a small bus sold in Japan, came in August 1997. The Prius followed in December 1997, and Toyota describes it as the first hybrid passenger car anywhere to be made in large numbers.
- Why isn't the Supra on this list? Because the Supra is famous for its performance and design rather than for changing how Toyota worked. The A80 of 1993 to 2002 is among Otto's ten iconic Toyotas instead.
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