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In predominantly Chinese-speaking countries or regions using traditional Chinese characters, e.g. Hong Kong and Taiwan, Toyota is known as "??".[14] In predominantly Chinese speaking countries using simplified Chinese characters (e.g. China), Toyota is known as "??"[15] (pronounced as "Fengtián" in Mandarin Chinese ). These are the same characters as the founding family's name "Toyoda" in Japanese, which translate to "fertile rice paddies" in the Chinese language as well.

From September 1947, Toyota's small-sized vehicles were sold under the name "Toyopet" (?????).[16] The first vehicle sold under this name was the Toyopet SA[17] but it also included vehicles such as the Toyopet SB light truck, Toyopet Stout light truck,[18] Toyopet Crown and the Toyopet Corona. However, when Toyota eventually entered the American market in 1957 with the Crown, the name was not well received due to connotations of toys and pets.[19] The name was soon dropped for the American market but continued in other markets until the mid 1960s.

With over 30 million sold, the Corolla is one of the most popular and best selling cars in the world.The Toyota Motor Company received its first Japanese Quality Control Award at the start of the 1980s and began participating in a wide variety of motorsports. Due to the 1973 oil crisis, consumers in the lucrative US market began turning to small cars with better fuel economy. American car manufacturers had considered small economy cars to be an "entry level" product, and their small vehicles employed a low level of quality in order to keep the price low.

By the early sixties, the US had begun placing stiff import tariffs on certain vehicles. The Chicken tax of 1964 placed a 25% tax on imported light trucks.[20] In response to the tariff, Toyota, Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. began building plants in the US by the early eighties.[20]

In 1982, the Toyota Motor Company and Toyota Motor Sales merged into one company, the Toyota Motor Corporation. Two years later, Toyota entered into a joint venture with General Motors called NUMMI, the New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc, operating an automobile-manufacturing plant in Fremont, California. The factory was an old General Motors plant that had been closed for two years. Toyota then started to establish new brands at the end of the 1980s, with the launch of their luxury division Lexus in 1989.

In the 1990s, Toyota began to branch out from producing mostly compact cars by adding many larger and more luxurious vehicles to its lineup, including a full-sized pickup, the T100 (and later the Tundra); several lines of SUVs; a sport version of the Camry, known as the Camry Solara; and the Scion brand, a group of several affordable, yet sporty, automobiles targeted specifically to young adults. Toyota also began production of the world's best-selling hybrid car, the Prius, in 1997.

With a major presence in Europe, due to the success of Toyota Team Europe, the corporation decided to set up TMME, Toyota Motor Europe Marketing & Engineering, to help market vehicles in the continent. Two years later, Toyota set up a base in the United Kingdom, TMUK, as the company's cars had become very popular among British drivers. Bases in Indiana, Virginia and Tianjin were also set up. In 1999, the company decided to list itself on the New York and London Stock Exchanges.

Toyota Deutschland's headquarters in CologneIn 2001, Toyota's Toyo Trust and Banking merged with two other banks to form UFJ Bank, which was accused of corruption by the Japan's government for making bad loans to alleged Yakuza crime syndicates with executives accused of blocking Financial Service Agency inspections.[21] The UFJ was listed among Fortune Magazine's largest money-losing corporations in the world, with Toyota's chairman serving as a director.[22] At the time, the UFJ was one of the largest shareholders of Toyota. As a result of Japan's banking crisis, UFJ merged with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi to become the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.

In 2002, Toyota managed to enter a Formula One works team and establish joint ventures with French motoring companies Citroën and Peugeot a year after Toyota started producing cars in France.

Toyota ranked eighth on Forbes 2000 list of the world's leading companies for the year 2005.[23] The company was number one in global automobile sales for the first quarter of 2008.[24]

On December 7, 2004, a US press release was issued stating that Toyota would be offering Sirius Satellite Radios. However, as late as January 27, 2007, Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite radio kits were not available for Toyota factory radios.[citation needed] While the press release enumerated nine models, only limited availability existed at the dealer level in the US. As of 2008, all Toyota and Scion models have either standard or available XM radio kits. Major Lexus dealerships have been offering satellite radio kits for Lexus vehicles since 2005, in addition to factory-equipped satellite radio models.

In 2007, Toyota released an update of its full size truck, the Tundra, produced in two American factories, one in Texas and one in Indiana. "Motor Trend" named the Tundra "Truck of the Year," and the 2007 Toyota Camry "Car of the Year" for 2007. It also began the construction of two new factories, one to build the RAV4 in Woodstock, Ontario, Canada and the other to build the Toyota Prius in Blue Springs, Mississippi, USA. This plant was originally intended to build the Toyota Highlander, but Toyota decided to use the plant in Princeton, Indiana, USA, instead. The company has also found recent success with its smaller models—the Corolla and Yaris—as gas prices have risen rapidly in the last few years.

Logo and branding

A replica of the 1936 Toyota Model AA, with the original Toyoda logoIn 1936, Toyota entered the passenger car market with its Model AA and held a competition to establish a new logo emphasizing speed for its new product line. After receiving 27,000 entries, one was selected that additionally resulted in a change of its monikor to "Toyota" from the family name "Toyoda." It was believed that the new name sounded better and its eight-stroke count in the Japanese language was associated with wealth and good fortune. The original logo no longer is found on its vehicles but remains the corporate emblem used in Japan.

Still, there were no guidelines for the use of the brand name, "TOYOTA", which was used throughout most of the world, which led to inconsistencies in its worldwide marketing campaigns.

To remedy this, Toyota introduced a new worldwide logo in October 1989 to commemorate the 50th year of the company, and to differentiate it from the newly released luxury Lexus brand. The logo made its debut on the 1989 Toyota Celsior and quickly gained worldwide recognition. There are three ovals in the new logo that combine to form the letter "T", which stands for Toyota. The overlapping of the two perpendicular ovals inside the larger oval represent the mutually beneficial relationship and trust that is placed between the customer and the company while the larger oval that surrounds both of these inner ovals represent the "global expansion of Toyota's technology and unlimited potential for the future."[25][26]

The logo started appearing on all printed material, advertisements, dealer signage, and the vehicles themselves in 1990.

Marketing

The examples and perspective in this section deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (February 2011)

MEGAWEB, Toyota's permanent exhibition showroom and museum in Odaiba, TokyoToyota's marketing efforts have focused on emphasizing the positive experiences of ownership and vehicle quality.[27] The ownership experience has been targeted in slogans such as "Oh, what a feeling!" (1978–1985, in the US),[27] "Who could ask for anything more" (1986–1989), "I love what you do for me, Toyota!" (1990–1997), "Everyday" (1997–2000)", "Get the feeling!" (2001–2004), and "Moving Forward" (2004–present).[28]

Recently, Toyota's new United States marketing strategy has included such hits as "Swagger Wagon" [29] and the marketing for the new Avalon,[30] which includes a throwback to the "old days of travel."

Company strategy

Main article: The Toyota Way

Toyota's management philosophy has evolved from the company's origins and has been reflected in the terms "Lean Manufacturing" and Just In Time Production, which it was instrumental in developing.[31] Toyota's managerial values and business methods are known collectively as the Toyota Way.

In April 2001 the Toyota Motor Corporation adopted the "Toyota Way 2001," an expression of values and conduct guidelines that all Toyota employees should embrace. Under the two headings of Respect for People and Continuous Improvement, Toyota summarizes its values and conduct guidelines with the following five principles:[32]

Challenge

Kaizen (improvement)

Genchi Genbutsu (go and see)

Respect

Teamwork

According to external observers, the Toyota Way has four components:[33]

1.Long-term thinking as a basis for management decisions.

2.A process for problem-solving.

3.Adding value to the organization by developing its people.

4.Recognizing that continuously solving root problems drives organizational learning.

The Toyota Way incorporates the Toyota Production System.

Electric technology

Toyota Prius, flagship of Toyota's hybrid technologyMain articles: Hybrid Synergy Drive and Hybrid electric vehicle

Toyota is one of the largest companies to push hybrid vehicles in the market and the first to commercially mass-produce and sell such vehicles, an example being the Toyota Prius. The company eventually began providing this option on the main smaller cars such as Camry and later with the Lexus divisions, producing some hybrid luxury vehicles. It labeled such technology in Toyota cars as "Hybrid Synergy Drive" and in Lexus versions as "Lexus Hybrid Drive."

The Prius has become the top selling hybrid car in America. Toyota, as a brand, now has three hybrid vehicles in its lineup: the Prius, Highlander, and Camry. The popular minivan Toyota Sienna is scheduled to join the hybrid lineup by 2010, and by 2030 Toyota plans to offer its entire lineup of cars, trucks, and SUVs with a Hybrid Synergy Drive option (Toyota has said it plans to make a hybrid-electric system available on every vehicle it sells worldwide sometime in the 2010s).[49]

Lexus LS 600h hybrid sedan.Worldwide sales of hybrid vehicles produced by Toyota reached 1.0 million vehicles by May 31, 2007, and the 2.0 million mark was reached by August 31, 2009, with hybrids sold in 50 countries.[50][51] Toyota's hybrid sales are led by the Prius, with worldwide cumulative sales of 1.43 million by August 2009.[50] Toyota's CEO has committed to eventually making every car of the company a hybrid vehicle.[52][53] Lexus also has their own hybrid lineup, consisting of the GS 450h, RX 400h, and launched in 2007, the LS 600h/LS 600h L.

Toyota and Honda have already said they've halved the incremental cost of electric hybrids and see cost parity in the future (even without incentives).[54] Hybrids are viewed by some automobile makers as a core segment of the future vehicle market.[55]

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Toyota Motor Corporation (Japanese: ??????????, Toyota Jidosha KK?, IPA: [to?jota][4]) TYO: 7203, LSE: TYT, NYSE: TM, commonly known simply as Toyota and abbreviated as TMC, is a multinational automaker headquartered in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. In 2010, Toyota Motor Corporation employed 317,734 people worldwide .[3] TMC is the world's largest automobile manufacturer by sales[5][6] and production.[7]

The company was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937 as a spinoff from his father's company Toyota Industries to create automobiles. Three years earlier, in 1934, while still a department of Toyota Industries, it created its first product, the Type A engine, and, in 1936, its first passenger car, the Toyota AA. Toyota Motor Corporation group companies are Toyota (including the Scion brand), Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino Motors,[8] along with several "non-automotive" companies.[9] TMC is part of the Toyota Group, one of the largest conglomerates in the world.

Toyota Motor Corporation is headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi and in Tokyo.[10] It's Tokyo head office is located at 1-4-18 Koraku, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-8701, Japan. Nagoya Office at 4-7-1 Meieki, Nakamura-ku, Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture. In addition to manufacturing automobiles, Toyota provides financial services through its Toyota Financial Services division and also builds robots.

Company overview

Toyota headquarters in Toyota City, JapanVehicles were originally sold under the name "Toyoda" (???), from the family name of the company's founder, Kiichiro Toyoda. In September 1936, the company ran a public competition to design a new logo. Out of 27,000 entries the winning entry was the three Japanese katakana letters for "Toyoda" in a circle. But Risaburo Toyoda, who had married into the family and was not born with that name, preferred "Toyota" (???) because it took eight brush strokes (a fortuitous number) to write in Japanese, was visually simpler (leaving off the diacritic at the end) and with a voiceless consonant instead of a voiced one (voiced consonants are considered to have a "murky" or "muddy" sound compared to voiceless consonants, which are "clear"). Since "Toyoda" literally means "fertile rice paddies", changing the name also prevented the company being associated with old-fashioned farming. The newly formed word was trademarked and the company was registered in August 1937 as the "Toyota Motor Company".[11][12][13]