Toyota Motor Corporation

Toyota Pavillon at the Expo in Aichi

(, , ), or TMC, is a Japanese multinational corporation that manufactures automobiles, trucks and buses. Toyota is the world's second largest and the largest Asian manufacturer.

The headquarters of Toyota is located in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. Toyota also provides financial services through its subsidiary, Toyota Financial Services, and participates in other lines of business. It manufactures vehicles sold in the United States under the brand names Toyota, Scion, Yaris and Lexus. Toyota also owns majority stakes in Daihatsu and Hino, and 8.7% of Fuji Heavy Industries, which manufactures Subaru vehicles.

As of 2005, Toyota combined with its half owned subsidiary Daihatsu Motor Company produced 8.54 million vehicles, about 500,000 fewer than the number produced by GM that year. And in July of 2006, Toyota passed Ford in selling cars. Toyota has a large market share in the United States, Europe and Africa and is the market leader in Australia. It has significant market shares in several fast-growing South East Asian countriesToyota's plan for Lexus is a reminder of its real goal (August 1 2005). Financial Times, p. 16..

In the Fortune Global 500, it is the 7th largest company in the world outpacing Ford Motor Company in all listings in terms of revenue and growth and in the 2006 Forbes Global 2000 it is the 12th largest company in the world.

History

Replica of the Toyota Model AA, the first production model of Toyota in 1936

Bronze statue honouring founder Kiichiro Toyoda

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 (which are now fully computerized), 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 (è±Šç"°), the company name was changed to:
*Signify the separation of the founders' work life from home life;
*Simplify the pronunciation, and
*Give the company a happy beginning. Toyota (ãƒˆãƒ¨ã‚¿) is considered luckier than Toyoda (è±Šç"°) in Japan, where eight is regarded as a lucky number, and eight is the number of strokes it takes to write Toyota in Katakana. In Chinese, the company and its vehicles are still referred to by the equivalent characters (Traditional Chinese: è±ç"°; Simplified Chinese: ä¸°ç"°), with Chinese reading.

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.

Fortunately for Toyota, the war ended shortly before a scheduled allied bombing run on the Toyota factories in Aichi. However, the United States rebuilt steel factories in Japan.

Commercial passenger car production started in 1947 with the model SA. In 1950 a separate sales company Toyota Motor Sales Co. was established (which lasted until July 1982). In April 1956 the Toyopet dealer chain was established.

Japan's banking crisis

In 2001, Toyota's Toyo Trust and Banking merged to form the UFJ United Financials of Japan, which was accused of corruption by the government for making bad loans to the yakuza crime syndicates. The UFJ became one of the worst money losing corporations in the world, with Toyota's chairman serving as a director. At the time, the UFJ was one of the largest shareholders of Toyota. As a result of Japan's banking crisis, the UFJ was merged again to become Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.

Worldwide presence

The headquarters of Toyota in Toyota City, Japan

A typical Toyota car dealership

Toyota has factories all over the world, manufacturing or assembling vehicles for local markets, including the Corolla. Toyota has manufacturing or assembly plants in the United States, Japan, Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Poland, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, France, Brazil, and more recently Pakistan, India, Argentina, Czech Republic, Mexico, Malaysia, Thailand, China and Venezuela.

Toyota invests a great amount of research into cleaner-burning vehicles such as the Toyota Prius, based on technology such as the Hybrid Synergy Drive. In 2002, Toyota successfully road-tested a new version of the RAV4 which ran on a Hydrogen fuel cell. Scientific American called the company its Business Leader of the Year in 2003 for commercializing an affordable hybrid car.

In 2003, Toyota brought two of its popular cars from Japan (including the bB) to America, and created a new badge, called Scion, meaning a descendant or heir. These cars are targeted towards the young, and young-at-heart. They are meant to be tuned up or be used as simple road cars. Both models, the xA (known in Japan as the Toyota ist) and xB (known in Japan as the Toyota bB) are powered by a 1.5L DOHC I4 engine. A third model, the Scion tC, was introduced in 2004. They are all typically low priced and are affordable. Instead of importing an existing model from Japan as was done with the xA and xB, the tC was designed specifically for the North American market, using the four-cylinder engine and transmissions from the Toyota Camry.

Toyota is also famous in industry for its manufacturing philosophy, called the Toyota Production System. This system is copied worldwide by many manufacturing companies.

In 2005, Toyota was the 4th largest auto company in the world in terms of sales with $135.82 billionâ€"it trailed General Motors with $185.52 billion, Ford with $164.20 billion, and DaimlerChrylser with $157.13 billion. As of May 2006, Toyota was able to catch Daimler-Chrysler for 3rd place in total sales in the United States. In June 2006, Toyota surpassed Ford in terms of total vehicle sales in the U.S., becoming the 2nd largest maker of automobiles in the country. Due to the high fuel prices and Toyota's emphasis on compact and mid-size cars, sales of the Corolla and Yaris jumped, with each car getting around an estimated 35 highway miles per gallon.

Hybrid Initiative

Toyota was the first car company to begin experimenting with hybrid technology in 1997, with the experimental Prius. By 2001 the Toyota Prius saw development into the American market and received a successful redesign in 2004. With an EPA fuel economy rating of 60 miles to the gallon, it became the top selling hybrid car in America.

Toyota now has three hybrid vehicles in its lineup (Prius, Highlander, & Camry). The popular minivan Toyota Sienna is supposed to join the hybrid lineup by 2010, and by 2030 Toyota plans to have its entire lineup of cars, trucks, and SUVs to have a Hybrid Synergy Drive option.

Auto racing

World Rally Championship

While most racing victories go to General Motors and Ford, Toyota has had some measure of success in racing, especially in Rally with the Toyota Celica as well as the Toyota Corolla in the 1980s and 1990s. It has a racing cars and parts division called Toyota Racing Development or TRD.

Championship Auto Racing Teams

Toyota raced in CART (a.k.a. the Champ Car World Series) from 1996 to 2002. Its early years in the series were marked by struggles. Toyota-powered cars, campaigned by the All-American Racers and PPI Motorsports teams, languished at the back of the grid, slow and unreliable. Toyota didn't even lead a lap until Alex Barron led 12 laps at the Vancouver street circuit in September 1998. Toyota started seeing its fortunes improve in 1999 as Scott Pruett took pole position at the final race of the season at the California Speedway. The next year, Juan Pablo Montoya gave Toyota its first-ever CART win at the Milwaukee Mile, the first of 5 races won by Toyota-powered cars that year. Toyota-powered cars won six races in 2001. In 2002, Toyota's final year in the championship, it turned things around completely from its bleak debut. Toyota won the Manufacturer's championship, 10 races, and Cristiano Da Matta rode Toyota power to the driver's championship. As icing on the cake, Bruno Junqueira, also Toyota-powered finished second.

Indy Racing League

Toyota moved to the Indy Racing League in 2003 and provided factory support to former CART teams Penske Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing as well as other teams. They were one of the top engines in their first year, winning the Indianapolis 500 with Gil de Ferran and the championship with Scott Dixon. However, 2004 and 2005 were not so kind and wins were few and far between. Following the 2005 season, the Penske and Ganassi teams announced they would switch engines to Honda, leaving Toyota with no championship contenders. As a result of this and their intent to re-allocate resources for NASCAR, Toyota announced they would leave the series during the offseason.TRDToyota Racing Development was brought about to help develop true high performance racing parts for many Toyota Vehicles. TRD has often had much success with their aftermarket tuning parts, as well as designing technology for vehicles used in all forms of racing.

Prototype Sports Car racing and the 24 Hours of Le MansIn 1998, Toyota debuted the sleek new GT-One prototype racing cars to compete for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The three Toyota GT-One cars (codenamed TS020) were among the fastest cars on the track, but ultimately failed in their quest for overall victory at Le Mans due to various mechanical and electrical failures. Toyota returned to the Circuit de la Sarthe in 1999 with revised models of its GT-One prototype. The cars proved to be even faster than the year before, but succumbed to reliability problems during the grueling race. After the 1999 race, Toyota withdrew the GT-One cars in favor of focusing its racing research and development on the future Formula One effort.

Entry into Formula One

In 2002 Toyota started racing in Formula One with Toyota Team Europe, based in Cologne. Despite a huge investment, the team's performances have been mediocre so far. In 2004, top designer Mike Gascoyne was hired (he left the team midway through the 2006 season); by 2005 the team had advanced from the midfield to challenging for the top positions. Jarno Trulli achieved two second places and one third place in the first five races of the season, helping the team to retain second position in the Constructors Championship for several races. Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher are the team's current drivers.

NASCAR

Toyota also races the Toyota Tundra in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and they will enter NASCAR's Busch Series and Nextel Cup in 2007 with the Toyota Camry.

Toyota reports on its consolidated financial statements 540 consolidated subsidiaries and 226 affiliates.
*Toyota Motor North America (100% - 2004)
*Hino Motors (50.1% - March 31, 2005)
*Daihatsu Motor Company (51.2% - March 31, 2005)
*DENSO (22.98% - March 31, 2005)
*Aisin Seiki Co. (23.0% - March 31, 2005)
*Toyota Canada Inc. owned via Toyota Motor North America
*Fuji Heavy Industries (8.7% - October 5, 2005)

Non-automotive activities

Finance

Toyota Financial Services Corporation provides financing to Toyota customers.

Agricultural biotechnology

Toyota invests in several small start-up businesses and partnerships in biotechnology, including:
* P.T. Toyota Bio Indonesia in Lampung, Indonesia
* Australian Afforestation Pty. Ltd. in Western Australia and Southern Australia
* Toyota Floritech Co., Ltd. in Rokkasho-Mura, Kamikita District, Aomori Prefecture
* Sichuan Toyota Nitan Development Co., Ltd. in Sichuan, China
* Toyota Roof Garden Corporation in Miyoshi-Cho, Aichi Prefecture

Namesakes

Toyota is also a city in Aichi, Japan, named after the corporation. The basketball and hockey arena in Houston, Texas, the Toyota Center, is also named after the company. A soccer stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, was named Toyota Park just before its opening in 2006. A football (soccer) stadium in Prague, Czech Republic, the Toyota Arena, also bears the company's name, as well as Toyota Park Rugby League Stadium, in Cronulla, New South Wales, Australia, home of the Cronulla Sutherland Sharks Rugby League Team. Toyota also sponsors the Nagoya Grampus Eight. The team also plays its home games at Toyota Stadium. The Los Angeles Kings' practice facility El Segundo, California is named for Toyota (Toyota Sports Center). Toyota has been one of the Kings' major sponsors for about 20 years.
* In the hit MMORPG Asheron's Call, players can type /atoyot to experience "quite the feeling", with an associated player graphic, perhaps referring to their well-known 1980s slogan "Oh, what a feeling!"
* The synthpop band, Human League have a song titled, Toyota City on their album Travelogue.
* Toyoda, the surname of the founder from which the company name is derived, means bountiful rice field in Japanese.

References

*2005 Toyota Highlander Hybrid. Retrieved January 11, 2004 from CanadianDriver Communications, Inc. (2004)
* Toyota up close Sales figures of Toyota.
*Toyota becomes 3rd ranked US automaker behind GM and Ford Bloomberg Report.

Data

*Yahoo! - Toyota Motor Corporation Company Profile
* Toyota buying GM's Subaru stake

Legal matters

*Competition Bureau of Canada settles Price Maintenance and Misleading Advertising case regarding the Access Toyota Program

Toyota Motor Corporation: Encyclopedia BETA

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