History of Toyota Motor Cars / Automobiles

• 8.11.12.  Toyota
  
  
• The Toyota Motor Corporation was formed when a textile machinery manufacturing company, owned by Sakichi Toyoda, created a new division to produce cars.  
  
  
• The corporation produced its first engine in 1934 and a prototype car, the model A1, the following year. In 1936 production of the model AA car started. 
  
   
  
  
• In 1937 the Toyota Motor Company was established as an independent company and by 1944 it had produced nearly 2,000 cars.  
  
  
• It is believed that the name was changed from “Toyoda” to “Toyota” because 8 is a lucky number in Japan and that is how many strokes it takes to write “Toyota” in Japanese (Katakana) script.
  
  
• The first car the company was allowed to produce after World War 2 was the Type SA. 
  
  
• This was followed in 1949 by the Type D, a taxi car with a top speed of only 47 mph (75 kph) , and the Crown in 1955. 
  
  
• The Toyota Corolla E10 series was first introduced in October 1966. Two and four door sedans and a coupe version were available, with a 1.1 or 1.2 litre engine.
  
  
• The following month the first model was exported to Australia. 
  
  
• The fourth generation model was produced from 1979 to 1983. In 1980 daily production averaged a record 2,346 cars. 
  
  
• The fifth generation models, the E80 series that were produced from 1983 to 1987, were the most popular Corolla cars, with some 3.3 million made. 
  
  
• In 1997 the Corolla became the best selling car in the world, with over 30 million sold as of 2007. See Part 2, The Last 100 Years, Section 1.4. 
  
  
  
  
• In addition to Japan, Corollas have been manufactured in 14 other countries; Brazil, Canada, China, Great Britain, India, Malaysia, Taiwan, Pakistan, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, United States and Venezuela.  
  
  
• In October 2006 Toyota introduced the tenth generation Corolla; the E140 series.
  
  
• The Camry name was first used in 1980 with Toyota’s Celica Camry.  
  
  
• The first model line independently named the Toyota Camry was a compact, four-door sedan that was launched in 1982 for the 1983 model year. 
  
  
• Over the years coupe, hatchback and station wagon versions have been produced. 
  
  
• In 2007 the sixth generation Camry was being assembled in Australia, China, Japan and the United States. 
  
  
  
  
• In 1989 Toyota started production of the Lexus and by 2003 over 30 variants had been produced. 
  
  
• Other models produced by the company include the Celica, MR2, Supra, Prius, Avalon, Matrix and Yaris.