The company was founded as a spinoff of Toyota Industries, a machine maker started by Sakichi Toyoda, Kiichiro's father. Both companies are now part of the Toyota Group, one of the largest conglomerates in the world. While still a department of Toyota Industries, the company developed its first product, the Type A engine, in 1934 and its first passenger car in 1936, the Toyota AA.
After World War II, Toyota benefited from Japan's alliance with the United States to learn from American automakers and other companies, which gave rise to The Toyota Way (a management philosophy) and the Toyota Production System (a lean manufacturing practice) that transformed the small company into a leader in the industry and was the subject of many academic studies.
In the 1960s, Toyota took advantage of the rapidly growing Japanese economy to sell cars to a growing middle-class, leading to the development of the Toyota Corolla, which became the world's all-time best-selling automobile. The booming economy also funded an international expansion that allowed Toyota to grow into one of the largest automakers in the world, the largest company in Japan and the ninth-largest company in the world by revenue, as of December 2020. Toyota was the world's first automobile manufacturer to produce more than 10 million vehicles per year, a record set in 2012, when it also reported the production of its 200 millionth vehicle. By September 2023, total production reached 300 million vehicles.[1]
Toyota was praised for being a leader in the development and sales of more fuel-efficient hybrid electric vehicles, starting with the introduction of the original Toyota Prius in 1997. The company now sells more than 40 hybrid vehicle models around the world. More recently, the company has also been criticized for being slow to adopt all-electric vehicles, instead focusing on the development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, like the Toyota Mirai, a technology that is much costlier and has fallen far behind electric batteries in terms of adoption.
As of 2024, the Toyota Motor Corporation produces vehicles under four brands: Daihatsu, Hino, Lexus and the namesake Toyota. The company also holds a 20% stake in Subaru Corporation, a 5.1% stake in Mazda, a 4.9% stake in Suzuki, a 4.6% stake in Isuzu, a 3.8% stake in Yamaha Motor Corporation, and a 2.8% stake in Panasonic, as well as stakes in vehicle manufacturing joint-ventures in China (FAW Toyota and GAC Toyota), the Czech Republic (TPCA), India (Toyota Kirloskar) and the United States (MTMUS).
Toyota is listed on the London Stock Exchange, Nagoya Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange and on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, where its stock is a component of the Nikkei 225 and TOPIX Core30 indices
In 1924, Sakichi Toyoda invented the Toyoda Model G Automatic loom. The principle of jidoka, which means the machine stops itself when a problem occurs, became later a part of the Toyota Production System. Looms were built on a small production line. In 1929, the patent for the automatic loom was sold to the British company Platt Brothers,[2][3] generating the starting capital for automobile development.[4][5]
Under the direction of the founder's son, Kiichiro Toyoda,[6][7][8] Toyoda Automatic Loom Works established an Automobile Division on September 1, 1933, and formally declared its intention to begin manufacturing automobiles on January 29, 1934.[6][9] A prototype Toyota Type A engine was completed on September 25, 1934, with the company's first prototype sedan, the A1, completed the following May. As Kiichiro had limited experience with automobile production, he initially focused on truck production; the company's first truck, the G1, was completed on August 25, 1935, and debuted on November 21 in Tokyo, becoming the company's first production model.[6][10][non-primary source needed] Modeled on a period Ford truck, the G1 sold for ¥2,900, ¥200 cheaper than the Ford truck. A total of 379 G1 trucks were ultimately produced.[10][11]
In April 1936, Toyoda's first passenger car, the Model AA, was completed. The sales price was ¥3,350, ¥400 cheaper than Ford or GM cars.[12][non-primary source needed] The company's plant at Kariya was completed in May. In July, the company filled its first export order, with four G1 trucks exported to northeastern China.[6][non-primary source needed] On September 19, 1936, the Japanese imperial government officially designated Toyota Automatic Loom Works as an automotive manufacturer.[6]