Toyota’s Race to Number One

By: Jason Petrina



For the last few years, Toyota has been running in more than one race and if predictions hold true they will move to the number one position for largest car company in the world by 2006. That means they will have beat out competitor, General Motors, the US company that has held that position for numerous years. Toyota’s race began in September 1933 when the company began in Japan under the stewardship of Toyoda Automatic Loom. The founder of the original company gave total direction of the new division to his son, Kiichiro Toyoda. While most of the world associates the name Toyota with the various vehicles produced by the extremely large automobile manufacturing firm, the company is still just a part of a much larger corporation. The Toyota Group still maintains its presence in the field of textiles and looms.

The first vehicle produced by the new division was the Model A1 passenger car in the spring of 1935. Two years later, the automotive division was established as an independent company and officially switched their name from Toyoda to Toyota. Simplification of the pronunciation as well as the fact that the name Toyota was considered to be more auspicious than Toyoda were just two of the reasons for the name switch. The move certainly seems to be have brought good luck, because not only did the Toyota factory in Aichi miss a scheduled Allied in bombing during World War II, but the war itself seems to have barely even phased the company that was rapidly moving toward becoming one of the preeminent auto manufacturing companies in the world.

Throughout the next several years, production operations were begun in numerous places around the world; beginning with Taiwan and continuing with Costa Rica, Ethiopia and numerous other locales. Production began in the United States in October, 1957. Expansion continued throughout the 1960’s around the globe to such places as South Africa, Guatemala and Denmark.

For years now, Toyota vehicles have been well regarded for their reliability and longevity; which is contributed significantly to their popularity and the company’s rapid upward movement on the global level. At the current time, Toyota produces an average of eight million vehicles per year and dominates almost half of Japan’s automotive market. Market shares are also very strong in the United States and Europe and is quickly gaining in numerous Asian countries. It is anticipated that by 2006, Toyota will be producing more than 9 million vehicles per year in the numerous production plants around the world. Should Toyota surpass the nine million vehicles per year mark, that will put Toyota in the number one automotive company position in the world in terms of production.

While Toyota is obviously continuing to concentrate on their drive to win that position, the company has also remained dedicated to their position in the racing industry. Both the Toyota Celica and the Toyota Corolla, the most popular of all the Toyota models, have performed well in past races. Just a few years ago, the company made a move to get started in Formula One racing and while success has not been as quick to come to this attempt, Toyota is continuing with the same drive and ambition to lead their Formula One team to the top that has been so successful in bringing the entire Toyota Motor Co. to the number two automotive company in the world and beyond. Only time will tell whether Toyota will succeed in either goal; however, based upon their amazing record of success in their past 65+ year history; their chances look very auspicious indeed.



Jason Petrina is the Editor and Publisher of Article Click. For more FREE articles for your ezine and websites visit - www.articleclick.com