Toyota is one of the largest automakers worldwide and has a history that dates back to 1930s Japan. While today’s company enjoys all the benefits of being a major player in automotive, the company saw its fair share of difficulties and struggles caused by international wars, economic struggles, and more. Learn about Toyota, its beginning days as a company, and how the Company competes today on an international scale. Stanley Direct Auto gives everyone coming from Dallas, McKinney, and Mesquite easy access to their favorite Toyota cars, trucks, and SUVs.
Before Sakichi Toyoda started the Toyota company in 1933, he began with a Loom Company that he was able to sell and use the revenue to begin manufacturing vehicles. He began Toyota at a time when Ford and General Motors had a major foothold in the Japanese automotive market. Toyota spent its resources helping the Japanese war effort and faced a good deal of economic hardships until the Korean War began and was able to recover due to massive orders of automobiles. In 1957, Toyota exported its first vehicle, and by the late 1960s had a massive global presence and exported its one-millionth model. During this time their biggest exporter was Australia but had continued to expand its markets around the world. In 1985, Toyota built its first plant in the United States in Kentucky and currently has plants in eight other states which continue to produce Toyota’s most popular models.
The first Toyota model was the Toyota AA which was produced in 1936, preceded only by the prototype, the Toyota A1. The Toyota AA was a full-size, four-door sedan with a 3,389 cc Type A overhead valve 6-cylinder engine that produced roughly 60 horsepower. About 1400 of these vehicles were produced from 1936 to 1943, and it was suspected that they functioned during WWII as cargo and weapon transport. The last remaining AA model was found on a remote farm in Siberia in 2008 and now is on display at the Louwman Museum in the Netherlands.
Toyota credits its top seller of all time to the Toyota Corolla. The Corolla is a model that has been around since 1966 and has seen many different variations including four-doors, wagons, hatchbacks, and more since its first release. Like many recent Toyota models, the Corolla was released with a hybrid option that is not only highly affordable among the competition but offers over 50 miles per gallon. During its time, the Corolla has seen over 44 million vehicles sold and continues to remain an extremely popular vehicle among Toyota Drivers.
Toyota is lightyears past its humble beginnings as a loom maker and into a global company that continues to innovate and develop vehicle technology. In the United States alone, Toyota has partnered with Mazda and Isuzu and worked hand-in-hand with Subaru to develop Subaru’s first electric vehicle, the Subaru Solterra. Toyota remains a beacon in the automotive industry as a leader in safety technology, community outreach, and international partnerships to help shape the future of the automobile industry.