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Do read our earlier post on the series here – BMW
We will be covering interesting facts of the world’s largest automobile manufacturer ‘Toyota’ in this post.
1. Toyota Motor Corporation started in 1937 as a division of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works. While the Toyota Group is now best known for its cars, they are still in the textile business as well.
2. The founder of Toyota Motor Corporation actually spells his name T-O-Y-O-D-A. Kiichiro Toyoda, to be exact. The spelling of the company name was changed to Toyota because when it is written in Katakana (a Japanese script) it only takes 8 strokes to write, and 8 is a lucky number in East Asian culture.
3. Kiichiro Toyoda, son of the founder of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, got ideas for the first Toyota cars from the United States. He traveled to the US in 1929 to investigate automobile production because Japan needed to start producing domestic vehicles due to their war with China. Early Toyota’s bear a striking resemblance to the Dodge Power Wagon and Chevrolet.
4. Even though Toyota started in Japan, the company has created more than 5 Lakh jobs in the United States alone!
5. The Korean War in a way saved Toyota. While the company was on the verge of bankruptcy, and produced only 300 trucks in June of 1950. In the first initial months of the Korean War, the US ordered more than 5,000 vehicles from Toyota, and the company was revived!
6. Toyota first ventured into America in 1957.
7. In the year 2019, Toyota was ranked as the second largest car manufacturer in the world, just marginally short of the Volkswagen Group. (Source) 8. Toyota is the world’s leading manufacturer of hybrid vehicles, and there are more than 15 million Toyota hybrids on the road right now! (Source)
9. Toyota invested over $22.3 billion dollars in research and development worldwide. Close to Apple & Google.
10. In the US; Eighty percent of Toyotas sold 20 years ago are still on the road today!
11. A Toyota is best known for its long-term durability, quality & reliability.
12. Eighty percent of cars sold in Africa are Toyota’s.
13. Fastest Selling Car – Since 1966, Toyota has been manufacturing and selling Corolla every 37 seconds on average. As of 2013, the rate has gone much faster at every 27 seconds on average. The sales have hit an unprecedented 40 million, which is mind-boggling.
14. It is the Leading ‘Green’ Brand. Toyota was the first auto manufacturer to sell a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle commercially!
Source: Wikipedia, Toyota of Orange and Daves Ultimate Automotive