32 Super Interesting Facts About Toyota That You Should Know

The Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer, Toyota, is a popular company in the automobiles segment. Their three pillars of sustainability, efficiency, and reliability have helped Toyota Motor company to become successful enough to maintain its popularity throughout the years.

Established in 1937, Toyota Motor Corporation is a well-established global brand. For all Toyota fans, here are 32 super interesting facts about Toyota that you should know.

1. Spinoff company: Kiichiro Toyoda started the automobile company as a spinoff of his father’s company, Toyota Industries.
2. Toyoda or Toyota: Initially, the company was named Toyoda, after the family’s name. In Japanese, the meaning of the name was fertile rice paddies, but eventually, to make a global appeal, the name was changed to “Toyota.”
3. Legacy carried on by descendants: Toyota is a follower of the mom-pop style family corporation so the legacy is being carried on by the descendants of the founder.
4. First export of cars in 1957: The first Toyota car to be exported to the United States is the Crown sedan. But it was not before 1957 that the first car was exported and today Toyota has the largest market in the US.
5. More than 10 million cars manufactured per year: The first automobile company in the world to produce more than 10 million vehicles per year is Toyota Motor Corporation.
6. Record-breaking sales: Toyota has been a leader in terms of sales too. More than 40 million Toyota Corolla was sold all over the globe, which made the model make it to the list of best-selling cars.
7. Second largest automobile manufacturer: The second-largest company in terms of manufacturing automobiles and unit sales as per 2018 data is Toyota, just after Volkswagen.
8. A leader in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles: When it comes to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, Toyota crossed the 10 million mark in 2017.
9. Environment-friendly: When it comes to environment-friendly car manufacturing, Toyota is a leader and its campaign “Prius” started in 2000 has been helping the company find sustainable ways of car manufacturing. The company was crowned as a “Global Green Brand” in 2015.
10. Ahead of its competitors: Toyota’s sale in a year accumulates to more than $260 billion, which is more than the combined sales figure of its competitors, Nissan and Honda.
11. Inspiration from the US: The urge to produce domestic automobiles inspired Toyota founder, Kiichiro Toyoda to travel to the US to take inspiration, back in 1929.
12. Job creator in the United States market: Japanese company, Toyota is responsible for creating job opportunities in the US market with the large plants domestically producing Toyota cars and also its parts. Additionally, franchises also create more job opportunities.
13. First Japanese company to participate in Round Australia Rally: In 1957, Toyota was the first Japanese manufacturer to participate in the Round Australia Rally. What urged the company to take part in the rally is that motorsports play an integral part in the evolution of car manufacturing and to date this motive remains the same.
14. Longest running car model: In production since 1951, Toyota’s model Land Cruiser is the longest-running series. In 1965, this model became the top-selling model in the US market.
15. Much loved sports car of 1970: Toyota’s Celica was the first mass-produced sports car. Launched in 1970, this model is still a favorite even though production stopped in 2006.
16. Before cars: Before entering the automobile segment, Toyoda (it’s then name) was into the sales of sewing machines.
17. Fastest car production: Toyota’s new assembly line enforced is successful in delivering a new car every five seconds!
18. Modest headquarters: The headquarters of Toyota is a 4 storey building in Toyota City, Aichi. The building is very modest. But it is the lack of amenities in the city that led the company to face difficulties in retaining foreign employees.
19. External board members: Toyota Motor Corporation inducted external board members to the company just a few years ago, in 2013.
20. Ranked third automotive manufacturer: In the ranking of the world’s largest automotive manufacturers, Toyota ranks third, just after General Motors and Ford.
21. Ahead of GM and Ford: But the year 2005 saw Toyota manufacturing more cars than Ford and in the following year, its production exceeded General Motors. Since then it has been the largest automotive manufacturer.
22. War revived the company: In 1950, Toyota was on the verge of bankruptcy as only 300 trucks were manufactured that year. But with the start of the Korean War, the company received an order of more than 5000 vehicles from the US, which revived the company.
23. Investment in research: Research and development is an integral part of Toyota Motor Corporation. And in its mission of building safer and better cars, the company spends $1 million dollars every hour.
24. 20 years old cars still on the road: About 80 percent of Toyota cars that were sold 20 years ago are still on road and running!
25. Brands owned by Toyota: The luxury brand Lexus and Scion are the wholly-owned brands under Toyota. Another brand where Toyota holds a controlling stake is Hino, the manufacturer of commercial buses and trucks.
26. Hundred models: To date, Toyota has launched about 100 different models, which makes it an automobile company to have the most varied lineups as compared to its competitors.
27. Cars with best resale value: According to market research, cars from the house of Toyota has the best resale value.
28. Voted the “World’s Most Admired Companies”: Fortune magazine names Toyota as the “World’s Most Admired Companies” in 2017 for the third time in a row.
29. Voted “Number One Motor Vehicle”: For three consecutive years, Toyota was also named as the “Number One Motor Vehicle.”
30. Wide reach: Toyota is available in every part of the planet. It has its business operation in more than 170 countries and the number is only growing.
31. Smartest company: According to the MIT Technology Review, Toyota is amongst the top 50 smartest companies. It is amongst the only 2 automobile manufacturers that made it to the top 50.
32. Record-breaking patents: Toyota has more than 1000 patents in its name!