48 Fun Facts About Toyota

The company was founded on 28 August 1937 by which member of the founding family?

Kiichiro Toyoda established Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. on 28 August 1937, spinning the car business out of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, the company his father Sakichi had founded in 1926.

Why did the family firm's car business drop the 'Toyoda' spelling in favour of 'Toyota'?

Eight is considered lucky in Japan, and the new name also separated the company from the family.

To which British firm did Sakichi Toyoda sell his automatic loom patent in 1929?

Platt Brothers of Oldham, then the world's leading textile-machinery maker, paid £100,000 in 1929 for the rights to Sakichi Toyoda's Type G automatic loom, money that helped fund the family's move into cars.

What was Toyota's first passenger car, completed in April 1936?

The Model AA, a six-cylinder sedan whose streamlined styling borrowed from the Chrysler Airflow, was completed in April 1936 as the firm's first production passenger car, following the A1 prototype of 1935.

Toyota's home city in Aichi Prefecture renamed itself after the firm in 1959. What was it called before?

Koromo renamed itself on 1 January 1959 and twinned with Detroit a year later; the Lexus division is headquartered in nearby Nagoya.

Which two engineers developed the Toyota Production System between 1948 and 1975?

Taiichi Ohno and Eiji Toyoda shaped the Toyota Production System between 1948 and 1975 around two pillars, just-in-time and jidoka, and it later inspired the wider idea of lean manufacturing.

The Toyota Production System's just-in-time approach was famously inspired by what?

Work centres 'take' only the parts they need, which triggers restocking of just what was used, like a grocery shelf.

Which Japanese word for 'continuous improvement' is central to Toyota's philosophy?

Kaizen, literally 'change for the better', is Toyota's term for continuous improvement by everyone on the line; kanban are inventory cards, jidoka is 'automation with a human touch' and muda means waste.

Which root-cause technique, asking a question repeatedly, did Sakichi Toyoda pioneer?

The 5 Whys, asking 'why?' about five times until a fault's root cause appears, was pioneered by Sakichi Toyoda and later became a standard problem-solving tool within the Toyota Production System.

Since 1997 the best-selling car nameplate of all time has been which Toyota?

The Corolla, sold across twelve generations since 1966, overtook the Volkswagen Beetle as the best-selling nameplate and passed 50 million cumulative sales in July 2021.

The name of Toyota's best-selling compact comes from the Latin for what?

The name is Latin for 'small crown', the diminutive of corona; Toyota chose it for the compact it launched in November 1966.

In which year did the first-generation Prius, the first mass-produced hybrid car, go on sale in Japan?

The first-generation Prius went on sale in Japan in December 1997 as the world's first mass-produced hybrid car; the name is Latin for 'to go before'.

What is the name of the drivetrain technology that combines engine and electric motor in the Prius?

Hybrid Synergy Drive, Toyota's name since the 2003 second-generation Prius for its power-split hybrid system, uses a planetary gearset to blend engine and electric-motor output.

Which is Toyota's longest-running model series, in production since 1951?

The Land Cruiser began in 1951 as the Toyota BJ, a Jeep-style utility vehicle built to a Korean War-era specification, and passed 10 million cumulative sales in 2019.

In 2003 Toyota moved Sienna minivan production from Kentucky to a plant in which state?

Sienna production moved in 2003 from Kentucky to Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana in Princeton, a plant that also began building the Highlander in 2009.

The name of the Hilux pickup, launched in 1968, is a blend of which two words?

Hilux blends 'high' and 'luxury'; the first generation, a light pickup launched in March 1968, was built for Toyota by the truck maker Hino.

Which Toyota pickup replaced the Hilux in North America in 1995?

The Tacoma, introduced for the 1995 model year and first built in Fremont, California, replaced the Hilux in North America; the Hilux carried on elsewhere as a favourite of farmers, aid agencies and armies.

Toyota's luxury brand Lexus launched in the US in 1989 with which flagship sedan?

The LS 400, a V8 flagship developed under the 'F1' (Flagship One) project begun in 1983, launched Lexus in the US alongside the smaller ES 250.

What was Lexus's original marketing slogan?

'The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection' was the slogan at the brand's launch and ran for over a decade before 'The Passionate Pursuit of Perfection' and, from 2017, 'Experience Amazing'.

Toyota's youth-oriented North American brand, launched in 2003 and closed in 2016, was called what?

Scion, launched in California in June 2003 to court younger buyers with boxy models such as the xB, was folded back into Toyota in August 2016.

Toyota's 1984 joint-venture plant with General Motors in Fremont, California, was known by which acronym?

NUMMI, New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., opened in Fremont in 1984 as a Toyota-General Motors joint venture; its first car, a Chevrolet Nova, was built in December 1984, and the plant closed in 2010.

Toyota's first wholly owned US plant, opened in 1988, is in which Kentucky town?

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky in Georgetown, north of Lexington, was announced in December 1985 and built its first vehicle in May 1988 as the company's first wholly owned American plant.

Which model was the first car built at Toyota's Burnaston plant in England, in 1992?

Burnaston, near Derby, was Toyota's first European car plant; its first vehicle, a Carina E, rolled off the line in December 1992.

What does the name RAV4 stand for?

RAV4 stands for Recreational Active Vehicle 4-wheel drive; the original three-door, built on a car platform rather than a truck frame, is widely credited as the first modern compact crossover.

Which electric carmaker helped Toyota build the second-generation RAV4 EV in 2012?

Tesla supplied the battery pack, motor and power electronics for the second-generation RAV4 EV, sold only in California for three model years under a partnership the two companies announced in 2010.

The Supra's name comes from a Latin prefix meaning what?

Supra is Latin for 'above' or 'beyond'; the car began as the Celica Supra in 1978, and the fifth generation, launched in 2019, was assembled alongside the BMW Z4 by Magna Steyr in Graz, Austria.

Which legendary engine family powered the fourth-generation (A80) Supra?

The twin-turbo 2JZ-GTE made 276 to 321 hp depending on market and became a tuner favourite.

Toyota's hydrogen fuel-cell car, launched in Japan in December 2014, has a name meaning what?

Mirai means 'future' in Japanese; the fuel-cell sedan went on sale in Japan on 15 December 2014, and its first generation carried an EPA-rated range of 312 miles.

Akio Toyoda, president from 2009 to 2023, races under which pseudonym?

Akio Toyoda races and test-drives as Morizo, a pseudonym borrowed from a mascot of the 2005 Aichi Expo; under that name he helped develop the GR Yaris.

Toyota became the first carmaker to produce more than 10 million vehicles in a single year in which year?

Toyota's group output first passed 10 million vehicles in 2012, roughly 10.1 million including its small-car and truck subsidiaries, a total no carmaker had reached before.

Toyota's factory Formula One team competed from 2002 to 2009 with what result?

Fourth in the 2005 constructors' championship with five podiums was as good as it got.

In which year did Toyota finally win the 24 Hours of Le Mans?

Toyota's first Le Mans win came in 2018 with the TS050 Hybrid of Alonso, Buemi and Nakajima, two years after the same model stopped while leading with about three minutes left.

Toyota entered NASCAR's top series in 2007 with which model?

Toyota joined NASCAR's Cup Series in 2007 with the Camry, and Kyle Busch gave the make its first drivers' championship in 2015 and another in 2019.

Toyota won its first World Rally Championship manufacturers' titles in which years?

Toyota's first WRC manufacturers' titles came with the Celica in 1993 and 1994 and a third in 1999; the marque left the series after 1999 and returned with Gazoo Racing in 2017.

In which year did Toyota adopt its three-oval logo?

Toyota unveiled its three-oval emblem in October 1989 to mark the company's 50th anniversary; the two inner ovals form a stylised T and the outer one represents the world.

Which small-car maker did Toyota take majority control of in 1998?

Toyota raised its holding in Daihatsu to a 51.2% majority in September 1998 and bought the rest in 2016, making the kei-car specialist a wholly owned subsidiary.

Toyota Motor Corporation formed in 1982 by merging the carmaker with which sister firm?

Toyota Motor Sales, split off in 1950 when bankers demanded the loss-making carmaker separate its sales arm, was merged back in July 1982 to form Toyota Motor Corporation.

Toyota announced in 2014 that it would stop manufacturing vehicles in which country by the end of 2017?

Toyota announced in February 2014 that it would stop building cars in Australia; its Altona plant near Melbourne produced its last vehicle on 3 October 2017, ending 54 years of local production.

Which rear-wheel-drive Toyota coupé was co-developed with Subaru and built at Subaru's Gunma plant?

The Toyota 86, sold as the GT86 in Europe, was co-developed with Subaru and built at Subaru's Gunma plant as the twin of the Subaru BRZ, sharing its boxer engine.

Who succeeded Akio Toyoda as Toyota's president and CEO in April 2023?

Koji Sato, previously head of Lexus and Gazoo Racing, became president and CEO on 1 April 2023, while Akio Toyoda moved up to chairman after 14 years running the company.

Toyota's first production facility outside Japan opened in 1958 in which country?

Toyota do Brasil, established in January 1958, made Brazil the company's first overseas base; it went on to build the Bandeirante utility vehicle in São Paulo state for about four decades.

Which country did Toyota enter in 1955 with Land Cruisers, its first push into exports?

The deal was struck with Abdul Latif Jameel, and Land Cruisers reached neighbouring Yemen the following year.

Toyota's test town, Woven City, broke ground in 2021 at the foot of which mountain?

Woven City occupies the 175-acre site of Toyota's former Higashi-Fuji plant in Susono, Shizuoka, at the foot of Mount Fuji; ground was broken on 23 February 2021.

In 2021 Toyota agreed to buy Lyft's self-driving technology unit for how much?

Woven Planet, Toyota's automation arm, agreed in April 2021 to buy Lyft's Level 5 self-driving division for $550 million, paid as $200 million upfront and $350 million over five years.

Toyota Motor North America is headquartered in which Texas city?

Toyota Motor North America moved to a new campus in Plano, north of Dallas, in 2017, consolidating sales, engineering and corporate staff previously split between California, Kentucky and New York.

Toyota Motor Europe is headquartered in which city?

Toyota Motor Europe is based in Brussels, with its technical centre in nearby Zaventem; its plants run from Burnaston in England to Arifiye in Turkey.

In 2004 Toyota showed off a robot that could play which musical instrument?

Toyota's Partner Robot, unveiled in March 2004, played the trumpet with artificial lips and lungs; Toyota later helped build the talking space robot Kirobo, launched to the ISS in 2013.

Which city's NBA arena opened in 2003 under the name Toyota Center?

The Toyota Center in Houston opened in October 2003 as home of the NBA's Rockets; Kennewick, Washington, has a smaller arena of the same name.