Toyoda Satoshi
At that time, Japan was still a less affluent country, with only three small-scale automobile factories, with an annual output of only a few hundred cars, while Ford Company of the United States rolled off the assembly line of 10,000 Model T cars every day. However, Zuo Ji and his son decided to set foot in the field of automobile manufacturing and put it into production when the economic situation improved.
Giorgio died too early to see the birth of the first Toyota car. My son, Hiroshi, set up the automobile department in January 1933 with an investment of only $130,000. After the AA prototype was designed, the first car named AA came out in May 1933.
1 year later, A 1 started small batch production. This is a large car, the shell is streamlined and beautiful, imitating the Chrysler Airflow model at that time, equipped with a 6-cylinder 3.4-liter engine with an output of 62 HP (46 kW). However, at that time, the number of cars in Japan was very small, and the market especially needed vans, so Toyota invested the most in the development of vans.
1937, Toyota * * * produced 40 13 cars, of which only 577 were AA cars and AB convertibles. It was also during this period that the company decided to change its name to Toyota. It is said that a woman fortune teller suggested this change, because in Japanese, Toyota's writing symbols and shapes are more beautiful, and there are 8 characters, and 8 is a lucky number in Japan. When legends are more beautiful than reality, people always believe in legends.
1940, Toyota produced about l5000 cars, 98% of which were vans. At that time, it introduced a new compact car, equipped with a 4-cylinder 2.2-liter 48-horsepower engine, which was closer to Sweden's rich PV60 in appearance. The witch suggested changing its name to Chetian and starting from imitation. Although Toyota doesn't have much experience in automobiles. But it sticks to a creed: imitation is simpler than creation, and it would be better if we can improve it while imitating. Ichiro is in the same line as his father's philosophy. He knows that it is necessary to produce safe, solid, economical and traditional cars first, not innovative products. So for a long time, all Toyota cars have such characteristics.
In l945, Japan was defeated. The entire Japanese archipelago is devastated, the economy has been devastated, roads have been destroyed, and raw materials are scarce. However, Toyota quickly recovered from the ruins of the war. Due to the extremely poor road conditions after the war, the company focused its production on vans and four-wheel drive vehicles instead of light cars. It was not until 1955 that Toyota introduced a car with exquisite design and displacement of 1.5 liter. It was named Crown RS, and two years later it was exported to the United States under the name of Toyopet. In fact, the car is very traditional, without using any modern technology, but it is very exquisite, and it is well-equipped, solid and inexpensive. It is indeed more attractive than the Volkswagen Beetle and has achieved good results in the American market. Crown car prompted Toyota to quickly set up sales outlets in the United States, Venezuela, Thailand and South Africa, and then set up factories in these countries. Cheap and good quality Toyota cars are popular in the global market.
Toyota CENTURY (century)
Model VG20 1967 Toyota CORONA-MARKII RT62 1968
Toyota CROWN MS5 1 model 1968 Toyota CELICA TA22 1970.
1962, Toyota began to March into Europe. This year, Toyota's output exceeded the million mark for the first time. 1965 (40 years of Showa) The opening of Mingshen Expressway (Nagoya to Kobe) opened the prelude to the era of high-speed road traffic in Japan. Toyota foresaw that large-scale liberalization of international trade and capital would soon sweep across Japan. In order to meet the arrival of the new era, Toyota stepped up the development of new cars with higher performance, and at the same time devoted great efforts to enhancing production capacity and improving quality. All these efforts finally yielded fruitful results, and Toyota won the Deming Award in 1965. In the same year, the Japanese government lifted the tariff barriers on imported cars, and since then, Toyota has started a real contest with foreign automobile manufacturers in terms of performance and price!
In the following years, the gross national product of Japan rose rapidly, and the sales of automobiles also increased rapidly. Corolla sedan, which went on sale in 1966 (Showa 4 1 year), was favored by consumers as a family car, thus setting off a Volkswagen craze. Later, it was exported to North America in 1968 (Showa 43), which won another praise and drove the sales volume to soar.
The ninth generation corolla of that year
Against the background of great economic development, Japan's automobile market showed an unprecedented growth momentum. In 1967 (Showa 42), the total domestic production reached 3 million vehicles, surpassing West Germany at that time and becoming the second largest automobile producer in the world. In this case, according to the forecast that the demand will further expand, Toyota has continuously increased its investment in new factories and equipment.
The 1960s was an era of great development for Toyota. Its automobile output 196 1 year was only 200,000, and after 10, it soared to 2 million, doubling 10 times, making it the third largest automobile manufacturer in the world.
Compared with other manufacturers, Toyota understood earlier that the world was its market. To this end, Toyota has set up factories in many countries around the world. Following the establishment of factories in the United States, Peru, South Africa and Thailand, Toyota 199 1 year set up factories in China, 1993 set up factories in Britain and finally set up factories in France in 200 1 year. At present, Toyota has set up 56 automobile factories all over the world. Of course, Toyota products are also remarkable. For example 1966 Toyota introduced the Corolla sedan with a displacement of l000 ml.
The land cruiser of that year
This car is made of German Opel Kadett, but it has nothing special except the beautiful body. The design is very traditional, and it still uses front-mounted engine, rear-wheel drive, tough axle and drum brake. This design is almost out of date, because Toyota's competitors are already applying new technologies such as front-wheel drive, disc brakes and independent suspension of wheels. But the important thing is that the Corolla inherits the value concept of retired founder Kiichiro in 1950, that is, the car should adhere to the concept of the ancestors and be practical, and strive for perfection, comfortable operation, complete configuration, exquisite workmanship and competitive price. Therefore, although there is nothing magical about the corolla, it gives the car buyer the feeling that it is worth the money. Just like Toyota's new slogan at that time, "My Toyota is amazing", the corolla soon became popular all over the world. Now, for Toyota, Corolla is a lucky name. Of course, the current model is very different from the prototype of 1966 except for its name. Because of this, many fans don't admit that the corolla broke the sales record of Volkswagen Beetle. Toyota has made use of this name, which is well known and recognized by the public, to achieve success one after another. Celica, a coupe launched at the end of 1970, has a production of about 4 million vehicles; 3 million Land Cruiser)300 and 5 million Crown Cruisers; Even more amazing is the four-wheel drive Hi Lux, with an output of10 million.
Toyota has developed more than 50 models, forming a huge Toyota car series. However, the company found that although Toyota was generally welcomed by the public, it lacked the image of a high-end brand. Of course, Toyota has also launched iconic cars in history and won respect. For example, the 2000GT introduced in the late 1960s, and the later luxury versions of CenturyV8 and Vl2 were all collected by Japanese celebrities. In order to compete with Mercedes-Benz and BMW, Toyota decided to create a new high-end brand and named it Lexus. The first Lexus was launched at Detroit Auto Show in 1989, and its design was inspired by Mercedes-Benz. This is Lexus V8, which is sedate, luxurious, sophisticated and high-grade, but the price of creating a high-grade brand image is 30% cheaper than that of Mercedes-Benz at the same level. Americans soon fell in love with Lexus, especially enjoying its unparalleled performance-price ratio and surprisingly low noise. However, Lexus has always been left out in Europe. Europeans value the brand with a long history, not just the internal quality of the product. At present, the Lexus series is constantly expanding, adding 6-cylinder Lexus 30D, 2-liter Lexus 200 and the popular RX luxury four-wheel drive. In 2000, the total output of Lexus was 260,000 vehicles, and only 2 1. 1 10,000 vehicles were sold in the United States. This achievement makes Lexus rank first in the sales of high-end cars in the United States, surpassing Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Facts have proved that Toyota's choice is correct.
Today, Toyota continues to grow. In 2003, Toyota Motor's global car sales surpassed Ford Motor Company of the United States, and it ranked second in the global car sales rankings, following General Motors of the United States. Toyota's rich profits, sufficient financial strength, efficient production system and continuous production research and development have made it have the potential to challenge the car industry leader General Motors.
Toyota's top car LEXUS LS430
Overview of Toyota's history
1867 Toyoda Satoshi was born
1924 Toyoda Satoshi invents "Toyota Automatic Loom with Non-Stop Shuttle Changing (G Type)"
1929 transfer the patent of loom to British company.
1930 Toyoda Ichiro began to research and develop small gasoline engines.
1933 set up the automobile department in Toyota automatic loom factory
1936 Toyota AA car comes out
1937 Toyota Motor Corporation was born (1 2 million yen)
1938 the parent factory (now the head office factory) was completed and put into operation.
1950 business crisis (labor dispute and downsizing) set up Toyota sales company.
195 1 began to implement the system of "use your head and propose a plan"
1957 exported Toyota domestic cars to the United States for the first time, and established the Toyota Motor Sales Company of the United States.
1959 yuanmachi factory completed and put into operation.
1962 signed the labor declaration.
1965 won Deming prize.
1966 corolla car came out and started business cooperation with hino automobile industry company
1967 started business cooperation with Dafa industrial company.
1972 Japan's cumulative domestic automobile production reached 1 0,000,000 vehicles.
1974 set up Toyota consortium
1975 participating in housing construction.
1982 Toyota Motor Corporation and Toyota Motor Sales Company merged into Toyota Motor Corporation.
1984 joint venture company (NUMMI) with American GM was completed and put into operation in the United States.
1988 American TMM (now TMMK) was completed and put into production.
1990 corolla car cumulative output reached 1 5 million.
1992 British TMUK was completed and put into production.
1997 Prius (hybrid vehicle) was put into production and listed.
1998 American TMMI and TMMWV were completed and put into production.
1999 was listed in new york and London stock markets respectively, and the cumulative domestic automobile production in Japan reached 1 100 million Indian tkms were completed and put into production.
China Sichuan Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. was completed and put into operation in 2000.
200 1 French TMMF completed and put into production
2002 F 1 China Tianjin Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. was built and put into operation.
In 2003, Toyota became the second largest automobile company in the world.