What is this Toyota?

Toyota Motor Corporation (hereinafter referred to as "Toyota") is an automobile manufacturing company, which was founded by Toyoda Shoichiro on September 1933 and formally established on August 28th 1937. Toyota is the first automobile factory with an annual output of over10 million, the parent company of Lexus and Subaru brands, and the largest shareholder of Fuji Heavy Industries.

Chinese name

Toyota motor corporation

Foreign name

Toyota motor corporation

country

Japan

Headquarters location

Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan

annual income

275,288.3 million USD (20 19) Enterprise Profile

Toyota Motor Corporation (hereinafter referred to as "Toyota") is an automobile manufacturing company, which was founded by Toyoda Shoichiro on September 1933 and formally established on August 28th 1937.

Toyota is the first automobile factory with an annual output of over10 million, the parent company of Lexus and Subaru brands, and the largest shareholder of Fuji Heavy Industries.

Development history

Toyoda Kiichiro (1894-1952): The founder of Toyota Motor Corporation. He founded Toyota Motor Corporation and realized his father's last wish: to produce cars made in Japan.

Toyoda Kiichiro

Before producing cars,

Toyoda Shoichiro was born in 1895. His father Akio Toyoda is not only a famous textile king in Japan [1], but also a famous "inventor" in Japan.

In fact, the history of Toyota can be traced back to 1896. That year, 29-year-old Akio Toyoda invented the Toyota-style steam loom. The loom he invented is not only the first automatic loom in Japan that does not rely on manpower, but also different from previous looms, which can be looked after by a car stopper at the same time, greatly improving productivity. Even Prade, the world's number one textile machinery manufacturer at that time, made a request to transfer the patent right to Akio Toyoda. Finally, in the fourth year of Showa, Satoshi sold the right to use this patent for 6,543.8+0,000 pounds (at that time, it was 6,543.8+0,000 yen).

Enter the automotive field

1930, Akio Toyoda died at the age of 63. He left the children a thriving cotton mill with nearly 10,000 employees. Akio Toyoda's eldest son, Akio Toyoda, is full of interest in the world outside Japan. Kiichiro has visited Europe and America. He was deeply shocked by the vigorous industrial revolution in Europe and America, and the car made his blood boil. He thinks that cars will be an important means of transportation in the future.

When Akio Toyoda began to develop cars, General Motors and Ford Motor Company in the United States had already become world-famous big companies. In terms of mass production technology and market operation, the strength of the two companies is enough to make all other automobile manufacturers in the world fall behind, and they have opened their own automobile assembly plants to Japan.

However, Akio Toyoda did not pay much attention to the actions of the two major American auto giants. He devoted himself wholeheartedly to establishing a domestic automobile industry based on mass production. In Toyota Automatic Loom Factory, a brand-new department-Automobile Department was born. 1937 (Showa12) On August 28th, the Ministry of Automobile announced its independence from Toyota Automatic Loom Factory. As a new company with a capital of12 million yen, "Toyota Automatic Vehicle Industry Co., Ltd." has embarked on its own brand-new course.

The newly completed factory began to put into production aa vehicles, with an initial monthly output of only 65,438+050 vehicles. A year later, Toyoda Shoichiro, who has firm confidence in Japanese automobile industry, decided to invest 45 million yen to establish a production system with a monthly output of 2,000 vehicles, which is almost four times the company's capital.

Japan is a country with poor natural resources, so Akio Toyoda thinks that developing reliable and durable cars with high fuel consumption is a crucial issue for Japanese automobile industry. 1939, the company set up a battery research institute and began to develop electric vehicles. 1940, Toyota produced about l5000 cars, 98% of which were vans. At that time, it introduced a brand-new compact car with a 4-cylinder 2.2-liter 48-horsepower engine, which was closer to Sweden's rich pv60 in appearance. Although Toyota doesn't have much experience in cars. But it sticks to a creed: imitation is simpler than creation, and it would be better if it can be improved while imitating. Ichiro and his father's philosophy come down in one continuous line. He knows that the first thing to do is to produce safe, solid, economical and traditional cars, not innovative products. So for a long time, all Toyota cars have such characteristics.

Be ravaged by war

194 1 In February, the Pacific War broke out. By the end of World War II in August, 1945, Japan's industrial production facilities were almost destroyed, and Toyota's factory was also seriously damaged in the war. In the first few years after the war, Japan's economy was in chaos, and all employees of the company were deeply worried about the development prospect of Japan's automobile industry, which was already quite backward. In order to rebuild the automobile industry into a pillar industry of economic development in peacetime, Toyota decided to set up a new small car factory on the basis of the original truck mass production system in September 1945 (Showa 20th year). This decision was made mainly because American automakers do not produce small cars, hoping to avoid direct competition with American automakers. 1947 65438+ 10, the prototype of the first small car was finally successfully trial-produced. According to the principle of fluid mechanics, this prototype adopts streamlined body and spine frame structure, and four wheels are independently suspended to form a brand-new body mechanism, with a top speed of 87 kilometers per hour.

It took two years after the prototype was born, and by 1949, Toyota's career was finally on the track of stable development.

Enter a period of development and growth

1962, Toyota began to March into Europe. This year, Toyota's output exceeded the million mark for the first time.

1965 the opening of Shen Ming expressway (Nagoya to Kobe) has opened the prelude to the Japanese expressway traffic era. Japan's automobile industry, which experienced the blank years after the war, can be said to be the least internationally competitive field among all Japanese industrial industries at that time. However, Toyota foresees that large-scale liberalization of international trade and capital will soon sweep across Japan. In order to meet the arrival of the new era, Toyota has stepped up the development of new cars with higher performance, and at the same time made great efforts to enhance production capacity and improve quality. All these efforts finally yielded fruitful results, and Toyota won the deming prize of 1965. In the same year, the Japanese government lifted the tariff barriers on imported cars, and since then, Toyota has started a real competition with foreign car manufacturers in terms of performance and price!

Corolla listed on 1966 is favored by consumers as a family car, thus setting off a mass upsurge. Later, 1968 was successfully exported to North America, and the sales volume soared. Corolla has produced nearly 30 million cars, almost the largest car model in the world. It's also made in China.

Under the background of great economic development, the Japanese automobile market presents an unprecedented growth momentum. 1967 The total domestic output 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 rapid growth of Japan's automobile industry has stimulated the urgency of capital liberalization of the American government and the three major American automobile giants. 197 1 year (Showa 46), the Japanese government abolished the government's management of capital investment, and then several Japanese automobile manufacturers began to cooperate with the three major American automobile companies. However, Toyota is not willing to go with the flow. In any case, it will stick to its position as a domestic automobile manufacturer. On the one hand, it has accelerated the pace of building a production system with an annual output of 2 million cars.

1At the end of 970, Toyota launched a small sports car, celica, which had produced almost 4 million cars before it stopped production at the end of 2004.

197 1 year, Toyota's annual output reaches 2 million vehicles, making it the third largest automobile manufacturer in the world.

The oil crisis has become an opportunity for Toyota's development

From 65438 to 0973, with the outbreak of the fourth Middle East War, the world economy suffered the first oil crisis. For Japan, whose oil resources are almost 100% dependent on imports, the whole economic activity was greatly affected and immediately plunged into chaos. The hyperinflation in the early postwar period swept Japan again, and the demand for automobiles plummeted. In this situation, Toyota aimed at the limited resources and launched a campaign to save resources, save energy and reduce costs. Toyota Hideyoshi, the son of Toyoda Shoichiro, has always believed that cars are by no means "luxury goods", but real necessities of society. In the face of the pessimism that hangs over Japanese society, Toyota sticks to the word "forbearance" and is ready to meet the day of re-glory.

1973 and 1979 oil crises have greatly changed the demand structure of American cars. The focus of people's choice has shifted from large cars to fuel-efficient small cars, and American automakers who lack the production technology of small cars have gradually lost their former competitive advantage. In order to get rid of the predicament, American automakers have repeatedly urged the government and parliament to restrict the import of Japanese cars as soon as possible. At the same time, they have repeatedly asked Japanese automakers to invest and build factories in the United States in order to compete with American automakers at the same starting point. With the intensification of trade friction between Japan and the United States, these opinions of American automakers have aroused the rebound of Japanese cars in the US Congress and some public opinion. Japanese automakers, led by Toyota, are also very worried that letting this situation continue will damage good Japan-US relations. 198 1 year, the agreement on independent restrictions on the export of automobiles to the United States came into effect. In order not to lose the American automobile market, but also to be afraid that American consumers who have a soft spot for small cars with superior fuel consumption will be limited in their choices, Japanese automobile manufacturers began to set up production bases in the United States as a new business topic. In this case, Toyota decided to cooperate with American General Motors Company in production, which can not only create some local employment opportunities, but also transfer the production technology of small cars to American automakers.

1983, in order to compete with Honda's Accord series cars in the North American market, Toyota introduced the Camry, which has been out of control since then and has almost become the most popular model of Toyota except Corolla.

Toyota has developed into a huge family with several cars and dozens of models. Its cover models range from the lowest-end civilian economy cars to the most advanced luxury cars and SUVs. No matter where Toyota is made in the world, it will try its best to achieve Toyota's high quality in the world, which is also an important reason why Toyota can succeed in the world. Toyota has surpassed the sum of the world's first and second car companies in terms of profits.