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Toyota Motor Corporation (in Japanese: トヨタ自動車株式会社; Toyota Jidōsha Kabushikigaisha; TYO: 7203.T , NYSE: TM, LSE: TYT) also abrreviated as TMC, is a multinational corporation that manufactures automobiles. more...

The headquarters of Toyota is located in Toyota, Aichi. Toyota also provides Financial Servicesand participates in other lines of business. It manufactures vehicles under the brand names Toyota, Scion and Lexus, and owns a majority stake in Daihatsu, and 8.7% of Fuji Heavy Industries. The company's Toyota automobiles are well regarded for their longevity and reliability.

Toyota is Japan's biggest car company and the second largest in the world after General Motors. It produces an estimated eight million vehicles per year, about a million fewer than the number produced by GM. The company dominates its home market with about 40% of all new cars registered in 2004 being Toyotas. Toyota also has a large market share in both the United States and Europe. It has significant market shares in several fast-growing South East Asian countries.

The company produces a large range of vehicles which are generally highly regarded for their quality, engineering, and value; their designs set global standards for safety, reliability and ease of maintenance.

The Japanese magazine Nihon Keizai predicted that Toyota would overtake General Motors as the world's biggest automaker in 2006, with an annual production of 9.2 million vehicles.

Origins

The story of Toyota Motor Corporation began in September 1933 when Toyoda Automatic Loom created a new division devoted to the production of automobiles under the direction of the founder's son, Kiichiro Toyoda. Soon thereafter, the division produced its first Type A Engine in 1934, which was used in 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.

Although the Toyota Group is best known today for its cars, it is still in the textile business and still makes automatic looms (fully computerized, of course), and electric sewing machines which are available worldwide.

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 (豊田) in Japan, where eight is regarded as a lucky number, and eight is the number of strokes it takes to write Toyota in Katakana.

During the Pacific War 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.

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