Beginning. The Toyota Motor Corporation was established by Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937. It was formerly known under the name of Toyota Industries. In 1936, the first passenger car—the AA model—left the Toyota factory. But just three years later, the company manufactured a six-cylinder engine with a capacity of 3.4 litres. Initially, the company sold its cars under the Toyoda brand (derived from the company's founder's name).
Development. First, the Toyota BJ was introduced, modelled on the Jeep MB. This is how the Land Cruiser line was started. In the second half of the 1960s, the company started to manufacture more passenger cars (an increase from 20,000 to 165,000 per year). In 1964, Toyota opened its first representative office in Europe (Denmark). Two years later, the company had even greater success with the launch of the Corolla, which was manufactured in 10 series (generations). In 1980, Toyota received its first award for quality control, and four years later, the company entered into a joint venture with General Motors. In 1989, a decision was made to create the Lexus brand. This premium brand from Toyota was a response to American and European premium cars.
Present. Towards the end of the 1990s, Toyota sold over 4.5 million cars a year. In 2007, the Toyota group became the largest car manufacturer in the world, having sold 9.6 million cars a year. As a side effect of such mass production, Toyota cars, until then considered to be 100% reliable, started to be returned for repairs more often. Toyota has two manufacturing facilities in Poland — a gearbox and petrol engine factory in Wałbrzych and a diesel engine factory in Jelcz-Laskowice.
Trivia. The company is known for manufacturing environmentally friendly cars. In 1997, the Prius model was launched. It is powered by an internal combustion engine (with a 1.5-litre capacity and a power of 58 HP) and by an electric engine (with a power of 40 HP). The Prius is the most popular car with a hybrid drive system. In 2001, the car was awarded the Car of the Year title.
Toyota models available in Poland: Toyota Auris, Toyota Avensis III, Toyota Aygo FL, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Hilux, Toyota iQ, Toyota Land Cruiser, Toyota Land Cruiser V8, Toyota Prius, Toyota RAV4 FL, Toyota Urban Cruiser, Toyota Verso, Toyota Yaris FL.
The original equipment of various Toyota cars includes the tyres produced by nearly all leading tyre companies.