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{{Infobox_Company || company_name = Toyota Motor Corporation
Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki-gaisha
トヨタ自動車株式会社| company_logo = | company_type = Public company corporationトヨタ自動車株式会社, 4(, , )]n countries) "Moving Forward"
(Spanish-speaking) "Avanza Confiado" (Moving with Confidence)
"Maneja Confiado" (Drive With Confidence)
"Today, Tomorrow... Toyota"
"Oh What a Feeling!"
"Nichts Ist Unmöglich" (Nothing is Impossible)
, , , (and Central American Countries) "Avancemos Juntos" (Let's Advance Together)
"Maneja Con Confianza" (Drive with Confidence)
"Make Things Better"
(French-speaking) "Faire Toujours Mieux" (Make Things Better)
"Lead the Way"
"Ve Más Allá" (Go Beyond)
"Управляй мечтой" (Drive a Dream)
"Suho Put" (Dry Road) "My Toyota is Fantastic"| foundation = 1937| location = [Toyota, Aichi and Tokyo, Japan, [Chairman and Representative Director
Katsuhiro Nakagawa, Vice chairman and Representative Director
Katsuaki Watanabe, President and Representative Director
Shoichiro Toyoda, Honorary Chairmanhttp://www.toyota.co.jp/en/about_toyota/executives/index.html]Robotics

Financial servicesBiotechnology[Scion (car)| subsid = 522] $215.62 1000000000 (number)http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=TM| profit = ¥1.37 trillion (+3.7%) (United States) (2006)| homepage = Toyota.co.jp-->, or Toyota for short, is a Japanese multinational corporation automobile manufacturer.

It is the world's largest automaker by revenue (USD $215.62 billionhttp://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=TM), production, sales (first half 2007: 4.72 millionhttp://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2007-07-19-toyota-sales-target_N.htm) and profit ($15.09 billionhttp://biz.yahoo.com/ic/41/41889.html) in front of General Motors. Toyota owns and operates Toyota, Lexus, Scion (car), has a majority shareholding in Daihatsu Motors (a minicar manufacturer, that includes the hybrid vehicle technology Daihatsu Mild Hybrid System) http://www.daihatsu.com/motorshow/tokyo02/hijetcargo_h/index.html and http://www.daihatsu.com/annual/annual02.pdf, Hino Motors (a manufacturer of commercial trucks, including hybrid vehicles) http://www.hino.co.jp/e/pressrelease/press.htmhl and has minority shareholdings in Fuji Heavy Industries (a manufacturer of Subaru brand cars), Isuzu Motors (the commercial truck manufacturer) and in Yamaha Motors the engine, motor cycle and marine craft manufacturer. The company includes 522 subsidiaries.http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/about_toyota/overview/index.html

The company was founded in 1937 by Kiichiro Toyoda as a spinoff from his father's (Sakichi Toyoda) company Toyota Industries to create automobiles. In 1934, while still a department of Toyota Industries, it created its first product Toyota Type A engine and its first passenger car (the Toyota AA) in 1936. It is headquartered in Toyota, Aichi and Bunkyō, Tokyo Tokyo, Japan. It also provides financial services through its division Toyota Financial Services and also creates robots besides automobiles. The company along with the original Toyota Industries form bulk of the Toyota Group.

Toyota together with its half owned subsidiary Daihatsu, is the world's largest seller of cars for the first half of 2007 selling 4.72 million vehicles, ending General Motors' 76 year reign as the world's best selling marque. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/automobiles/25auto.html?ref=business Toyota plans to produce 9.4 million vehicles in 2007. Toyota set to overtake GM in 2007 @ CNN. It plans to sell 10.4 million automobiles in 2008, which would make a record for an automaker to sell more than 10 million in a yearhttp://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=ait_mXo2DrsE&refer=asia. By January 8 ,2008, the company will drop "Motor" from it's corporate name and simply change it to "Toyota Corporation" (株式会社豊田 Kabushiki-gaisha Toyota). In the Japanese name, "Toyota" will change its brand name from Katakana to Kanji and "Corporation" will move from the end to beginning.

Founding and earlier history

The Toyota Motor Corporation was founded or established on 28 August 1937http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/about_toyota/overview/ when Toyota Industries created a new division devoted to the production of automobiles under the direction of the founder's son, Kiichiro Toyoda. Soon thereafter, the division produced its first Toyota Type A engine in 1934, which was used in the first Model Toyota A1 passenger car in May 1935 and the Toyota G1 truck in August 1935. Production of the Toyota AA passenger car started in 1936. Early vehicles bear a striking resemblance to the Dodge Power Wagon and Chevrolet, with some parts actually interchanging with their American originals. Toyota corporate history/Toyoland The company was founded in 1933 by Kiichiro Toyoda as an offshoot of Toyoda Automatic Loom Company, under the encouragement of the Japanese government, which needed domestic vehicle production partly due to the worldwide money shortage and partly due to the war with China.

Although the Toyota Group is best known today for its cars, it is still in the textile business and still makes automatic looms, which are now fully computerized, and electric sewing machines which are available worldwide.

Toyota Motor Co. was established as an independent and separate company in 1937. Although the founding family name is Toyoda (豊田), the company name was changed in order to signify the separation of the founders' work life from home life, to simplify the pronunciation, and to give the company a happy beginning. Toyota (トヨタ) is considered luckier than Toyoda (豊田) in Japan, where eight is regarded as a lucky number, and eight is the number of strokes it takes to write Toyota in katakana. In Chinese language, the company and its vehicles are still referred to by the equivalent characters (), with Chinese reading.

, the first production model of Toyota in 1936

During the Pacific War (World War II) the company was dedicated to truck production for the Imperial Japanese Army. Because of severe shortages in Japan, military trucks were kept as simple as possible. For example, the trucks had only one headlight on the center of the hood. The war ended shortly before a scheduled Allies bombing run on the Toyota factories in Aichi prefecture.

After the war, commercial passenger car production started in 1947 with the model Toyota SA. The quality and production principles on which Toyota is based originated in an education program from the United States Army in the postwar era. December 8, 1945: Toyota Resumes Production In 1950 a separate sales company, Toyota Motor Sales Co., was established (which lasted until July 1982). In April 1956 the Toyopet dealer chain was established. The following year, the Toyota Crown became the first Japanese car to be exported to the United States of America and Toyota's American and Brazilian divisions, Toyota Motor Sales Inc. and Toyota do Brazil S.A., were also established.Toyota began to expand in the 1960s with a new research and development facility, a presence in Thailand was established, the 10 millionth model was produced, a Deming Prize and partnerships with Hino Motors, Ltd. and Daihatsu were also established. The first Toyota built outside Japan was in April 1963, at Port Melbourne in Australia. Historic Toyota Port Melbourne Plant Ends Operations (AU) By the end of the decade, Toyota had established a worldwide presence, as the company had exported its one-millionth unit.

Later history and management The Toyota Motor Company was awarded its first Japanese Quality Control Award at the start 1970s and began participating in a wide variety of Toyota Motor Corporation#Motorsport historys. Due to the 1973 oil crisis consumers in the lucrative U.S. market began turning to small cars with better fuel economy. American car manufacturers had considered small economy cars to be an "entry level" product, and their small vehicles were not made to a high level of quality in order to keep the price low. Japanese customers, however, had a long-standing tradition of demanding small fuel-efficient cars that were manufactured to a high level of quality. Because of this, companies like Toyota, Honda, and Nissan established a strong and growing presence in North America in the 1970s.

(center), Katsuhiro Nakagawa (left), Katsuaki Watanabe (right)In 1982, the Toyota Motor Company and Toyota Motor Sales merged into one company, the Toyota Motor Corporation. Two years later, Toyota entered into a joint venture with GM called NUMMI, the New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc, operating an automobile manufacturing plant in Fremont, California. The factory was an old General Motors plant that had been closed for several years. Toyota then started to establish new brands at the end of the 1980s, with the launch of their luxury division Lexus in 1989.

In the 1990s Toyota began to branch out from producing mostly compact cars by adding many larger and more luxurious vehicles to its lineup, including a full sized pickup, the Toyota T100 (and later the Toyota Tundra), several lines of SUVs, a sport version of the Toyota Camry, known as the Toyota Solara, and the Scion (car) brand, a group of several affordable, yet sporty, automobiles targeted specifically to young adults. Toyota also began production of the world's best selling hybrid car, the Toyota Prius, in 1997.

With a major presence with Europe, due to the success of Toyota Team Europe, the corporation decided to set up TMME, Toyota Motor Europe Marketing & Engineering, to help market vehicles in the continent. Two years later, Toyota set up a base in the United Kingdom, TMUK, as the company's cars had become very popular among British drivers. Bases in Indiana, Virginia and Tianjin were also set up. In 1999, the company decided to list itself on the New York Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange.In 2001, Toyota's Toyo Trust and Banking merged to form the UFJ, United Financials of Japan, which was accused of corruption by the Japan's government for making bad loans to alleged Yakuza crime syndicates with executives accused of blocking Financial Service Agency inspections. Ex-UFJ Execs.Japan Times Weekly: April 30, 2005. The UFJ was listed among Fortune Magazine's largest money-losing corporations in the world, with Toyota's chairman serving as a director. UFJ Holdings Inc., company profile Yahoo Finance. Retrieved on May 8, 2007. At the time, the UFJ was one of the largest shareholders of Toyota. As a result of Japan's banking crisis, the UFJ was merged again to become Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.

In 2002, Toyota managed to enter a Formula One works team and establish joint ventures with France motoring companies Citroën and Peugeot, a year after Toyota started producing cars in France.

On December 7, 2004, a U.S. press release was issued stating that Toyota would be offering Sirius Satellite Radios. However, as late as Jan. 27, 2007, Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite radio kits were not available for Toyota factory radios. While the press release enumerated nine models, only limited availability existed at the dealer level in the U.S. Major Lexus dealerships have been offering satellite radio kits for Lexus vehicles since 2005, in addition to factory-equipped satellite radio models.

In 2007, Toyota released an update of its full size truck, the Toyota Tundra, produced in two American factories, one in Texas and one in Indiana, and "Motor Trend" named the 2007 Toyota Camry "Car of the Year" for 2007. It also began the construction of two new factories, one to build the Toyota Rav4 in Woodstock, Ontario and the other to build the Toyota Highlander in Blue Springs, Mississippi.

Toyota at present day

Toyota has grown to a large multinational corporation from where it started and expanded to different worldwide markets and countries by becoming the largest seller of cars in the beginning of 2007, the most profitable automaker ($11 billion in 2006) along with increasing sales in, among other countries, the United States. The world headquarters of Toyota are located in its home country in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. Its subsidiary, Toyota Financial Services sells financing and participates in other lines of business. Toyota brands include Scion (car) and Lexus and the corporation is part of the Toyota Group. Toyota also owns majority stakes in Daihatsu and Hino Motors, Ltd., and 8.7% of Fuji Heavy Industries, which manufactures Subaru vehicles. They also acquired 5.9% of Isuzu on November 7, 2006 and will be introducing Isuzu diesel technology into their products.

Toyota has introduced new technologies including the first mass-produced hybrid gas-electric vehicle, of which it says it has sold 1 million globally (2007-06-07) "Toyota tops 1 million in hybrid sales", Advanced Parking Guidance System (automatic parking), a four-speed electronically controlled automatic with buttons for power and economy shifting, and an eight-speed automatic transmission. Toyota, and Toyota-produced Lexus and scion (car) automobiles, consistently rank at the top in certain quality and reliability surveys, primarily J.D. Power and Consumer Reports. Consumer reports lists Toyota as having the most reliable cars

In 2005, Toyota, combined with its half-owned subsidiary Daihatsu Motor Company, produced 8.54 million vehicles, about 500,000 fewer than the number produced by GM that year. Toyota has a large market share in the United States, but a small market share in Europe. Its also sells vehicles in Africa and is a market leader in Australia. Due to its Daihatsu subsidiary it has significant market shares in several fast-growing Southeast Asian countries.Toyota's plan for Lexus is a reminder of its real goal (August 1, 2005). Financial Times, p. 16.

In the Fortune Global 500, Toyota Motor is the 8th largest company in the world. Since the recession of 2001, it has gained market share in the United States. Toyota's market share struggles in Europe where its Lexus brand has three tenths of one percent market share, compared to nearly two percent market share as the U.S. luxury segment leader.

In the first three months of 2007, Toyota together with its half-owned subsidiary Daihatsu reported number one sales of 2.348 million units. Toyota's brand sales had risen 9.2% largely on demand for Corolla and Camry sedans. The difference in performance was largely attributed to surging demand for fuel-efficient vehicles. In November 2006, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas added a facility in San Antonio, Texas. "Toyota Surpasses GM in Global Sales in First Quarter (Update3)", Bloomberg.com, 24 April 2007 Toyota has experienced quality problems and was reprimanded by the government in Japan for its recall practices.Vella, Matt (July 17, 2006). The Most recalled Cars Business Week Online at Yahoo News. Toyota currently maintains over 16% of the US market share. These problems affected Toyota's rank in the United States.After this had happened, Ford Motor Company was the leading automaker in terms of quality.

Worldwide presence Toyota has factories all over the world, manufacturing or assembling vehicles for local markets, including the Toyota Corolla. Toyota has manufacturing or assembly plants in Japan, Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Poland, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Brazil, and more recently Pakistan, India, Argentina, Czech Republic, Mexico, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Vietnam, Venezuela, and the Philippines.

Toyota has invested considerably into cleaner-burning vehicles such as the Toyota Prius, based on technology such as the Hybrid Synergy Drive. In 2002, Toyota successfully road-tested a new version of the RAV4 which ran on a Hydrogen fuel cell. Scientific American called the company its Business Brainwave of the Year in 2003 for commercializing an affordable hybrid car.

Toyota Motor North America, Inc. Toyota North America headquarters are located in Tokyo, Japan and operates at a holding company level in North America. Its manufacturing headquarters is located in Erlanger, Kentucky, and is known as Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America, or TMMNA.Toyota has large presence in the United States with five major assembly plants in Huntsville, Alabama; Georgetown, Kentucky; Princeton, Indiana; San Antonio, Texas; Buffalo, West Virginia; and the new one being built in Blue Springs, Mississippi. Toyota also has a joint-venture operation with General Motors at NUMMI (NUMMI), in Fremont, CA, which began in 1984, and with Subaru at Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. (SIA), in Lafayette, IN, which started in 2006. Production on a new manufacturing plant in Tupelo, Mississippi is schedule for completion in 2010; it will be producing the Toyota Highlander. North America is a major automobile market for Toyota. In these assembly plants, the Toyota Camry and the 2007 Toyota Tundra are manufactured, among others. It uses a number of catchphrases and/or slogans in its American TV Television advertisement such as It's time to move forward, Smart way to keep moving forward, or Moving forward. It also started producing larger trucks such as the new Toyota Tundra to go after the large truck market in the United States. It also pushed hybrid vehicles in the US such as the Toyota Prius, which is the most sold hybrid vehicle in the country.

North American employees and investments Toyota directly employs around 38,340 people in North America. It has made around $16.8 billion in direct investments in North America. It has in total produced 14.8 million vehicles, 2.5 million vehicles sales (2005), 39.2 million total vehicles sales, and purchased $26.1 billion worth of "parts, materials and components" as of December 2005 in North America. It has 1,745 North American dealers and has given around $301 million as philanthropy to the United States since 1991. About Toyota: Operations -- Toyota by the Numbers

Manufacturing facilities Australia

Canada

France

Indonesia

Mexico

Thailand

Turkey

United Kingdom

United States

Joint venture, licensed, and contract factories Czech Republic

Japan

Pakistan

United States

India

Hybrid and plug-in hybrid technologies , flagship of Toyota's hybrid technology

Toyota is one of the largest companies that started pushing hybrid vehicles in the market and one of the first to mass commercially produce such vehicle, an example being the main Toyota Prius. Then it eventually started producing the main smaller cars such as Camry and then it eventually moved on to the Lexus divisions, producing some hybrid luxury vehicles. It labeled such technology in Toyota cars as "Hybrid Synergy Drive" and in Lexus versions as "Lexus Hybrid Drive."

The Prius has become the top selling hybrid car in USA. Toyota now has three hybrid vehicles in its lineup (Prius, Highlander, & Toyota Camry Hybrid). The popular minivan Toyota Sienna is supposed to join the hybrid lineup by 2010, and by 2030 Toyota plans to have its entire lineup of cars, trucks, and SUVs to have a Hybrid Synergy Drive option.

The Hybrid Synergy drive is the only one enviroment friend system for automotive industry to decrease enviroment harms. More than 1 000 000 units are already sold, and within few years the TOYOTA will enlarge the number of hybrid models.

Lexus also has their own hybrid lineup, consisting of the Lexus GS 450h, Lexus RX 400h, and launched in 2007, the Lexus LS#UVF45 / UVF46 (2008).

Toyota is doing plug-in hybrid vehicle (called Toyota Plug-in HV) road test in Japan with possible unveiling in fall 2007.According to the report, Toyota is testing a lithium-ion battery pack in the plug-in. Their strategy is to maintain Toyota's leading position in hybrid technology with the PHEV which has an even lower environmental impact than existing hybrids, competing for mass-production with GM Chevrolet Volt and Ford plug-in hybrids and V2G technology http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/tech/environment/phv/conference/ http://www.calcars.org/calcars-news/798.html

Toyota in motorsports Rallying Toyota's presence in Motorsport can be traced by to the early 1970s, when Sweden driver, Ove Andersson drove for Toyota during the RAC Rally of Great Britain. During the winter of 1972, Andersson formed Andersson Motorsport in his native country and began running a Rallying program for Toyota. The move turned out to be an impractical one and three years after establishing his team, Andersson moved its base from Sweden to Brussels in Belgium. From there the team was renamed, Toyota Team Europe.

, World Champion of 1990 World Rally Championship season and 1992 World Rally Championship season, driving the Toyota Corolla WRC during the Monte Carlo Rally of World Rally Championship 1999 results.

and Toyota Corolla (pictured), are still a popular choice among rally drivers.

Toyota's first win in motorsport came at the 1975 1000 Lakes Rally of Finland, when Hannu Mikkola and his co-driver, Atso Aho, won the event in a Toyota Corolla. Three years later, the team moved to a new base in Cologne, in western Germany. It wasn't until the 1980s when Toyota began to gain notable success, especially in the African rallies, where Bjorn Waldegaard and Juha Kankkunen were usually top of the time sheets. The team then set-up its all purpose Motorsport facility in Cologne three years later, which is still used today.

In 1990, Carlos Sainz gave Toyota its first ever Championship win in a Four-wheel drive Toyota Celica and repeated the feat 2 years later. In 1993, Toyota bought the team from Andersson and named it Toyota Motorsport GmbH, in the same year Juha Kankkunen won the WRC title and Toyota won the Contsructors' Championship, becoming the first Japanese Manufacturer to do so. This success was repeated a year earlier, but this time it was France Didier Auriol who was responsible.

1995 proved to be a difficult year for Toyota, as the team were caught using illegal turbo chargers and were given a 12-month ban by the FIA. The company returned to rallying in 1996, but its competition, notably Mitsubishi and Subaru, had a clearer advantage over their cars.

World Rally Championship 1997 results would prove to be another uncompetitive year for Toyota, with the team still behind its fellow Japanese manufacturers, Subaru and Mitsubishi, and the Carlos Sainz the highest place Toyota driver in the Drivers' Championship in third place, 11 points behind champion Tommi Mäkinen. Sainz came within 1 point of the World Rally Championship 1998 results title, when his Corolla suffered an engine failure on the final stage of the final rally in United Kingdom, while Toyota were within 6 points of the Contstructors' Championship, many people place the blame on Toyota's choice to run Belgian Freddy Loix as one of the team's points scoring drivers at the Rally of Spain instead of regular driver Didier Auriol, because Auriol managed to win the event ahead of second-placed Loix.

Toyota decided to quit running in the WRC at the end of the World Rally Championship 1999 results, quoting that "all that can be achieved has been achieved". The team managed to secure the Manufacturers' title in their last season, 18 points ahead of their nearest rival Subaru, while Didier Auriol came within 10 points of the Drivers' title.

Toyota were replaced the following season by Peugeot, who went on to win the Manufacturers' title in succession from 2000-2002.

In March 2007, Toyota debuted its Super 2000 Toyota Corolla rally car, which will compete in the Australian Rally Championship. Toyota Super 2000 Corolla debut

Champ Car Toyota raced in Champ Car from 1996 to 2002. Its early years in the series were marked by struggles. Toyota-powered cars, campaigned by the All-American Racers and PPI Motorsports teams, languished at the back of the grid, slow and unreliable. Toyota didn't even lead a lap until Alex Barron (driver) led 12 laps at the Vancouver street circuit in September 1998.

Toyota started seeing its fortunes improve in 1999 as Scott Pruett took pole position at the final race of the season at the California Speedway. The next year, Juan Pablo Montoya gave Toyota its first-ever CART win at the Milwaukee Mile, the first of 5 races won by Toyota-powered cars that year. Toyota-powered cars won six races in 2001. In 2002, Toyota's final year in the championship, it turned things around completely from its bleak debut. Toyota won the Manufacturer's championship, 10 races, and Cristiano Da Matta rode Toyota power to the driver's championship, with Bruno Junqueira, also Toyota-powered car, finished second.

Le Mans was raced in the 1998 and 1999 24 hours of Le Mans. Ex-Formula One drivers: Thierry Boutsen, Martin Brundle and Ukyo Katayama drove the GT-One in both events.

Toyota started recruiting staff for their Le Mans 24 Hours efforts in 1997, with an aim to start a Formula One team. Toyota's efforts for a Le Mans car was the Toyota GT-One, which was driven by ex-Formula One drivers: Martin Brundle; Thierry Boutsen and Ukyo Katayama. The 3.6 litre twin-turbo GT-Ones were beaten in 1998 and 1999 but came close to victory, breaking down late in the race. The GT-One held the lap record for the Sarthe Circuit up until 2006 however.

Indy Racing League Toyota moved to the Indy Racing League in 2003 in IRL and provided factory support to former CART teams Penske Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing as well as other teams. They were one of the top engines in their first year, winning the Indianapolis 500 with Gil de Ferran and the championship with Scott Dixon. However, 2004 in IRL and 2005 in IRL were not so kind and wins were few and far between. Following the 2005 in IRL, the Penske and Ganassi teams announced they would switch engines to Honda, leaving Toyota with no championship contenders. As a result of this and their intent to re-allocate resources for NASCAR, Toyota announced they would leave the series during the off-season.

NASCAR enters pit road at Texas in the #44 UPS Toyota Camry.Toyota races the Toyota Tundra in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and the Toyota Camry in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series as well as the NASCAR Busch Series. Todd Bodine became the first driver to give Toyota their first ever NASCAR championship by winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Title in 2006.

Toyota's first year in Nextel Cup has been a struggle, posting only six top-10 finishes and one pole position after 28 of 36 races so far in the season.

Nextel Cup











Busch Series







Truck Series











Formula One (F1) racing logo.

, Toyota F1's car for the 2007 Formula One season.

In 2002 Toyota started racing in Formula One with Toyota Team Europe, based in Cologne, Germany. Despite a huge investment, the team's performances have been considered less than average by fans and pundits alike.

In 2004, designer Mike Gascoyne was hired to help turn things around (as he had done previously at Jordan Grand Prix and Renault F1). However, due to a lack of results and a difference in opinion with the management about how the team should progress he was released from his contract early midway through the 2006 Formula One season; by 2005 the team had advanced from the midfield to infrequently challenging for the top positions. Jarno Trulli achieved two second places and one third place in the first five races of the season, helping the team to retain second position in the Constructors Championship for several races before finishing 4th in the constructors championship. Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher are the team's current drivers.

In 2007 Formula One season, Toyota are also supplying engines to the WilliamsF1 team.

Toyota economy Toyota core segment in the market Hybrids are viewed by some automakers as a core segment of the future vehicle market.http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070416/REG/70416014/-1

TRD Toyota Racing Development was brought about to help develop true high performance racing parts for many Toyota vehicles. TRD has often had much success with their aftermarket tuning parts, as well as designing technology for vehicles used in all forms of racing.

Shareholders Toyota is publicly traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange under number 7203 (first section). Also on NYSE under .

Holdings Toyota reports on its consolidated financial statements 540 consolidated subsidiaries and 226 affiliates.



Accounting Ratios

{| class="toccolours" border="1" cellpadding="3" style="border-collapse:collapse"| + Toyota Motor Corporation Accounting Ratios |- bgcolor=lightblue! Fiscal Year CorporateInformation Snapshot of Toyota Motor Corporation ! 2006! 2005! 2004! 2003! 2002|- bgcolor=lightblue! Fiscal Year End Date! 3/31/06! 3/31/05! 3/31/04! 3/31/03! 3/31/02|-| Receivables Turnover| 3.6| 3.7| 3.8| 2.5| 2.5|-| Receivables - Number of Days| 93.8| 93.3| 114.2| 139.0| 129.6|-| Inventory Turnover], Depletion & Amortization -||||||-| % of Gross Property, Plant & Equipment| 7.6%| 7.1%| 7.3%| 6.3%| 6.1%|-| Depreciation, Depletion & Amortization -||||||-| Year to Year Change (Japanese Yen)| 21,346.5| 2,780.9| 11,827.0| 4,802.7| 5,385.5|-| Depreciation, Depletion & Amortization -||||||-| Year to Year % Change| 21.4%| 2.9%| 13.9%| 6.0%| 7.2%|-|}



The Toyota Production System Toyota has long been recognized as an industry leader in manufacturing and production. Three stories of its origin have been found, one that they studied Piggly-Wiggly's just-in-time distribution system, one that they followed the writings of W. Edwards Deming, and one that they were given the principles from an Army training program (see above reference). Regardless of the origin, the principles, described in Jeffrey Liker’s The Toyota Way, are as follows:

  • Base your management decisions on a long-term philosophy, even at the expense of short-term goals
  • Create continuous process flow to bring problems to surface
  • Use “pull” systems to avoid overproduction
  • Level out the workload
  • Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right the first time
  • Standardized tasks are the foundation for continuous improvement and employee empowerment
  • Use visual control so no problems are hidden
  • Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and processes
  • Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work, live the philosophy, and teach it to others
  • Develop exceptional people and teams who follow your company’s philosophy
  • Respect your extended network of partners and suppliers by challenging them and helping them improve
  • Go and see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation (genchi genbutsu)
  • Make decisions slowly by consensus, thoroughly considering all options; implement decisions rapidly
  • Become a learning organization through relentless reflection and continuous improvement


    • Toyota philosophy In Toyota philosophy, zeronise consists in reducing pollution, traffic deaths and road congestion.

    On the other hand, Toyota has been critized to be joining Detroit carmakers (GM, Ford, Daimler) in helping the US auto industry commit assisted suicide http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/03/opinion/03friedman.html , http://www.calcars.org/calcars-news/859.html

    Non-automotive activities Philanthropy Toyota is supporter of Toyota Family Literacy Program along with National Center for Family Literacy, helping low-income community members for education, United Negro College Fund (40 annual scholarships), National Underground Railroad Freedom Center ($1 million) among othershttp://www.toyota.com/about/diversity/2001/philanthropy.html. Toyota created Toyota USA Foundation.

    Higher education Toyota established the Toyota Technological Institute in 1981, as Sakichi Toyoda had planned to establish a university as soon as he and Toyota became successful. Toyota Technological Institute founded the Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago in 2003. Toyota is supporter of "Toyota Driving Expectations Program," "Toyota Youth for Understanding Summer Exchange Scholarship Program," "Toyota International Teacher Program," "Toyota TAPESTRY," "Toyota Community Scholars" (scholarship for high school stud {{Infobox_Company || company_name = Toyota Motor Corporation
    Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki-gaisha
    トヨタ自動車株式会社| company_logo = | company_type = Public company corporationトヨタ自動車株式会社, 4(, , )]n countries) "Moving Forward"
    (Spanish-speaking) "Avanza Confiado" (Moving with Confidence)
    "Maneja Confiado" (Drive With Confidence)
    "Today, Tomorrow... Toyota"
    "Oh What a Feeling!"
    "Nichts Ist Unmöglich" (Nothing is Impossible)
    , , , (and Central American Countries) "Avancemos Juntos" (Let's Advance Together)
    "Maneja Con Confianza" (Drive with Confidence)
    "Make Things Better"
    (French-speaking) "Faire Toujours Mieux" (Make Things Better)
    "Lead the Way"
    "Ve Más Allá" (Go Beyond)
    "Управляй мечтой" (Drive a Dream)
    "Suho Put" (Dry Road) "My Toyota is Fantastic"| foundation = 1937| location = [Toyota, Aichi and Tokyo, Japan, [Chairman and Representative Director
    Katsuhiro Nakagawa, Vice chairman and Representative Director
    Katsuaki Watanabe, President and Representative Director
    Shoichiro Toyoda, Honorary Chairmanhttp://www.toyota.co.jp/en/about_toyota/executives/index.html]Robotics

    Financial servicesBiotechnology[Scion (car)| subsid = 522] $215.62 1000000000 (number)http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=TM| profit = ¥1.37 trillion (+3.7%) (United States) (2006)| homepage = Toyota.co.jp-->, or Toyota for short, is a Japanese multinational corporation automobile manufacturer.

    It is the world's largest automaker by revenue (USD $215.62 billionhttp://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=TM), production, sales (first half 2007: 4.72 millionhttp://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2007-07-19-toyota-sales-target_N.htm) and profit ($15.09 billionhttp://biz.yahoo.com/ic/41/41889.html) in front of General Motors. Toyota owns and operates Toyota, Lexus, Scion (car), has a majority shareholding in Daihatsu Motors (a minicar manufacturer, that includes the hybrid vehicle technology Daihatsu Mild Hybrid System) http://www.daihatsu.com/motorshow/tokyo02/hijetcargo_h/index.html and http://www.daihatsu.com/annual/annual02.pdf, Hino Motors (a manufacturer of commercial trucks, including hybrid vehicles) http://www.hino.co.jp/e/pressrelease/press.htmhl and has minority shareholdings in Fuji Heavy Industries (a manufacturer of Subaru brand cars), Isuzu Motors (the commercial truck manufacturer) and in Yamaha Motors the engine, motor cycle and marine craft manufacturer. The company includes 522 subsidiaries.http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/about_toyota/overview/index.html

    The company was founded in 1937 by Kiichiro Toyoda as a spinoff from his father's (Sakichi Toyoda) company Toyota Industries to create automobiles. In 1934, while still a department of Toyota Industries, it created its first product Toyota Type A engine and its first passenger car (the Toyota AA) in 1936. It is headquartered in Toyota, Aichi and Bunkyō, Tokyo Tokyo, Japan. It also provides financial services through its division Toyota Financial Services and also creates robots besides automobiles. The company along with the original Toyota Industries form bulk of the Toyota Group.

    Toyota together with its half owned subsidiary Daihatsu, is the world's largest seller of cars for the first half of 2007 selling 4.72 million vehicles, ending General Motors' 76 year reign as the world's best selling marque. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/automobiles/25auto.html?ref=business Toyota plans to produce 9.4 million vehicles in 2007. Toyota set to overtake GM in 2007 @ CNN. It plans to sell 10.4 million automobiles in 2008, which would make a record for an automaker to sell more than 10 million in a yearhttp://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=ait_mXo2DrsE&refer=asia. By January 8 ,2008, the company will drop "Motor" from it's corporate name and simply change it to "Toyota Corporation" (株式会社豊田 Kabushiki-gaisha Toyota). In the Japanese name, "Toyota" will change its brand name from Katakana to Kanji and "Corporation" will move from the end to beginning.

    Founding and earlier history

    The Toyota Motor Corporation was founded or established on 28 August 1937http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/about_toyota/overview/ when Toyota Industries created a new division devoted to the production of automobiles under the direction of the founder's son, Kiichiro Toyoda. Soon thereafter, the division produced its first Toyota Type A engine in 1934, which was used in the first Model Toyota A1 passenger car in May 1935 and the Toyota G1 truck in August 1935. Production of the Toyota AA passenger car started in 1936. Early vehicles bear a striking resemblance to the Dodge Power Wagon and Chevrolet, with some parts actually interchanging with their American originals. Toyota corporate history/Toyoland The company was founded in 1933 by Kiichiro Toyoda as an offshoot of Toyoda Automatic Loom Company, under the encouragement of the Japanese government, which needed domestic vehicle production partly due to the worldwide money shortage and partly due to the war with China.

    Although the Toyota Group is best known today for its cars, it is still in the textile business and still makes automatic looms, which are now fully computerized, and electric sewing machines which are available worldwide.

    Toyota Motor Co. was established as an independent and separate company in 1937. Although the founding family name is Toyoda (豊田), the company name was changed in order to signify the separation of the founders' work life from home life, to simplify the pronunciation, and to give the company a happy beginning. Toyota (トヨタ) is considered luckier than Toyoda (豊田) in Japan, where eight is regarded as a lucky number, and eight is the number of strokes it takes to write Toyota in katakana. In Chinese language, the company and its vehicles are still referred to by the equivalent characters (), with Chinese reading.

    , the first production model of Toyota in 1936

    During the Pacific War (World War II) the company was dedicated to truck production for the Imperial Japanese Army. Because of severe shortages in Japan, military trucks were kept as simple as possible. For example, the trucks had only one headlight on the center of the hood. The war ended shortly before a scheduled Allies bombing run on the Toyota factories in Aichi prefecture.

    After the war, commercial passenger car production started in 1947 with the model Toyota SA. The quality and production principles on which Toyota is based originated in an education program from the United States Army in the postwar era. December 8, 1945: Toyota Resumes Production In 1950 a separate sales company, Toyota Motor Sales Co., was established (which lasted until July 1982). In April 1956 the Toyopet dealer chain was established. The following year, the Toyota Crown became the first Japanese car to be exported to the United States of America and Toyota's American and Brazilian divisions, Toyota Motor Sales Inc. and Toyota do Brazil S.A., were also established.Toyota began to expand in the 1960s with a new research and development facility, a presence in Thailand was established, the 10 millionth model was produced, a Deming Prize and partnerships with Hino Motors, Ltd. and Daihatsu were also established. The first Toyota built outside Japan was in April 1963, at Port Melbourne in Australia. Historic Toyota Port Melbourne Plant Ends Operations (AU) By the end of the decade, Toyota had established a worldwide presence, as the company had exported its one-millionth unit.

    Later history and management The Toyota Motor Company was awarded its first Japanese Quality Control Award at the start 1970s and began participating in a wide variety of Toyota Motor Corporation#Motorsport historys. Due to the 1973 oil crisis consumers in the lucrative U.S. market began turning to small cars with better fuel economy. American car manufacturers had considered small economy cars to be an "entry level" product, and their small vehicles were not made to a high level of quality in order to keep the price low. Japanese customers, however, had a long-standing tradition of demanding small fuel-efficient cars that were manufactured to a high level of quality. Because of this, companies like Toyota, Honda, and Nissan established a strong and growing presence in North America in the 1970s.

    (center), Katsuhiro Nakagawa (left), Katsuaki Watanabe (right)In 1982, the Toyota Motor Company and Toyota Motor Sales merged into one company, the Toyota Motor Corporation. Two years later, Toyota entered into a joint venture with GM called NUMMI, the New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc, operating an automobile manufacturing plant in Fremont, California. The factory was an old General Motors plant that had been closed for several years. Toyota then started to establish new brands at the end of the 1980s, with the launch of their luxury division Lexus in 1989.

    In the 1990s Toyota began to branch out from producing mostly compact cars by adding many larger and more luxurious vehicles to its lineup, including a full sized pickup, the Toyota T100 (and later the Toyota Tundra), several lines of SUVs, a sport version of the Toyota Camry, known as the Toyota Solara, and the Scion (car) brand, a group of several affordable, yet sporty, automobiles targeted specifically to young adults. Toyota also began production of the world's best selling hybrid car, the Toyota Prius, in 1997.

    With a major presence with Europe, due to the success of Toyota Team Europe, the corporation decided to set up TMME, Toyota Motor Europe Marketing & Engineering, to help market vehicles in the continent. Two years later, Toyota set up a base in the United Kingdom, TMUK, as the company's cars had become very popular among British drivers. Bases in Indiana, Virginia and Tianjin were also set up. In 1999, the company decided to list itself on the New York Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange.In 2001, Toyota's Toyo Trust and Banking merged to form the UFJ, United Financials of Japan, which was accused of corruption by the Japan's government for making bad loans to alleged Yakuza crime syndicates with executives accused of blocking Financial Service Agency inspections. Ex-UFJ Execs.Japan Times Weekly: April 30, 2005. The UFJ was listed among Fortune Magazine's largest money-losing corporations in the world, with Toyota's chairman serving as a director. UFJ Holdings Inc., company profile Yahoo Finance. Retrieved on May 8, 2007. At the time, the UFJ was one of the largest shareholders of Toyota. As a result of Japan's banking crisis, the UFJ was merged again to become Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.

    In 2002, Toyota managed to enter a Formula One works team and establish joint ventures with France motoring companies Citroën and Peugeot, a year after Toyota started producing cars in France.

    On December 7, 2004, a U.S. press release was issued stating that Toyota would be offering Sirius Satellite Radios. However, as late as Jan. 27, 2007, Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite radio kits were not available for Toyota factory radios. While the press release enumerated nine models, only limited availability existed at the dealer level in the U.S. Major Lexus dealerships have been offering satellite radio kits for Lexus vehicles since 2005, in addition to factory-equipped satellite radio models.

    In 2007, Toyota released an update of its full size truck, the Toyota Tundra, produced in two American factories, one in Texas and one in Indiana, and "Motor Trend" named the 2007 Toyota Camry "Car of the Year" for 2007. It also began the construction of two new factories, one to build the Toyota Rav4 in Woodstock, Ontario and the other to build the Toyota Highlander in Blue Springs, Mississippi.

    Toyota at present day

    Toyota has grown to a large multinational corporation from where it started and expanded to different worldwide markets and countries by becoming the largest seller of cars in the beginning of 2007, the most profitable automaker ($11 billion in 2006) along with increasing sales in, among other countries, the United States. The world headquarters of Toyota are located in its home country in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. Its subsidiary, Toyota Financial Services sells financing and participates in other lines of business. Toyota brands include Scion (car) and Lexus and the corporation is part of the Toyota Group. Toyota also owns majority stakes in Daihatsu and Hino Motors, Ltd., and 8.7% of Fuji Heavy Industries, which manufactures Subaru vehicles. They also acquired 5.9% of Isuzu on November 7, 2006 and will be introducing Isuzu diesel technology into their products.

    Toyota has introduced new technologies including the first mass-produced hybrid gas-electric vehicle, of which it says it has sold 1 million globally (2007-06-07) "Toyota tops 1 million in hybrid sales", Advanced Parking Guidance System (automatic parking), a four-speed electronically controlled automatic with buttons for power and economy shifting, and an eight-speed automatic transmission. Toyota, and Toyota-produced Lexus and scion (car) automobiles, consistently rank at the top in certain quality and reliability surveys, primarily J.D. Power and Consumer Reports. Consumer reports lists Toyota as having the most reliable cars

    In 2005, Toyota, combined with its half-owned subsidiary Daihatsu Motor Company, produced 8.54 million vehicles, about 500,000 fewer than the number produced by GM that year. Toyota has a large market share in the United States, but a small market share in Europe. Its also sells vehicles in Africa and is a market leader in Australia. Due to its Daihatsu subsidiary it has significant market shares in several fast-growing Southeast Asian countries.Toyota's plan for Lexus is a reminder of its real goal (August 1, 2005). Financial Times, p. 16.

    In the Fortune Global 500, Toyota Motor is the 8th largest company in the world. Since the recession of 2001, it has gained market share in the United States. Toyota's market share struggles in Europe where its Lexus brand has three tenths of one percent market share, compared to nearly two percent market share as the U.S. luxury segment leader.

    In the first three months of 2007, Toyota together with its half-owned subsidiary Daihatsu reported number one sales of 2.348 million units. Toyota's brand sales had risen 9.2% largely on demand for Corolla and Camry sedans. The difference in performance was largely attributed to surging demand for fuel-efficient vehicles. In November 2006, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas added a facility in San Antonio, Texas. "Toyota Surpasses GM in Global Sales in First Quarter (Update3)", Bloomberg.com, 24 April 2007 Toyota has experienced quality problems and was reprimanded by the government in Japan for its recall practices.Vella, Matt (July 17, 2006). The Most recalled Cars Business Week Online at Yahoo News. Toyota currently maintains over 16% of the US market share. These problems affected Toyota's rank in the United States.After this had happened, Ford Motor Company was the leading automaker in terms of quality.

    Worldwide presence Toyota has factories all over the world, manufacturing or assembling vehicles for local markets, including the Toyota Corolla. Toyota has manufacturing or assembly plants in Japan, Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Poland, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Brazil, and more recently Pakistan, India, Argentina, Czech Republic, Mexico, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Vietnam, Venezuela, and the Philippines.

    Toyota has invested considerably into cleaner-burning vehicles such as the Toyota Prius, based on technology such as the Hybrid Synergy Drive. In 2002, Toyota successfully road-tested a new version of the RAV4 which ran on a Hydrogen fuel cell. Scientific American called the company its Business Brainwave of the Year in 2003 for commercializing an affordable hybrid car.

    Toyota Motor North America, Inc. Toyota North America headquarters are located in Tokyo, Japan and operates at a holding company level in North America. Its manufacturing headquarters is located in Erlanger, Kentucky, and is known as Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America, or TMMNA.Toyota has large presence in the United States with five major assembly plants in Huntsville, Alabama; Georgetown, Kentucky; Princeton, Indiana; San Antonio, Texas; Buffalo, West Virginia; and the new one being built in Blue Springs, Mississippi. Toyota also has a joint-venture operation with General Motors at NUMMI (NUMMI), in Fremont, CA, which began in 1984, and with Subaru at Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. (SIA), in Lafayette, IN, which started in 2006. Production on a new manufacturing plant in Tupelo, Mississippi is schedule for completion in 2010; it will be producing the Toyota Highlander. North America is a major automobile market for Toyota. In these assembly plants, the Toyota Camry and the 2007 Toyota Tundra are manufactured, among others. It uses a number of catchphrases and/or slogans in its American TV Television advertisement such as It's time to move forward, Smart way to keep moving forward, or Moving forward. It also started producing larger trucks such as the new Toyota Tundra to go after the large truck market in the United States. It also pushed hybrid vehicles in the US such as the Toyota Prius, which is the most sold hybrid vehicle in the country.

    North American employees and investments Toyota directly employs around 38,340 people in North America. It has made around $16.8 billion in direct investments in North America. It has in total produced 14.8 million vehicles, 2.5 million vehicles sales (2005), 39.2 million total vehicles sales, and purchased $26.1 billion worth of "parts, materials and components" as of December 2005 in North America. It has 1,745 North American dealers and has given around $301 million as philanthropy to the United States since 1991. About Toyota: Operations -- Toyota by the Numbers

    Manufacturing facilities Australia

    Canada

    France

    Indonesia

    Mexico

    Thailand

    Turkey

    United Kingdom

    United States

    Joint venture, licensed, and contract factories Czech Republic

    Japan

    Pakistan

    United States

    India

    Hybrid and plug-in hybrid technologies , flagship of Toyota's hybrid technology

    Toyota is one of the largest companies that started pushing hybrid vehicles in the market and one of the first to mass commercially produce such vehicle, an example being the main Toyota Prius. Then it eventually started producing the main smaller cars such as Camry and then it eventually moved on to the Lexus divisions, producing some hybrid luxury vehicles. It labeled such technology in Toyota cars as "Hybrid Synergy Drive" and in Lexus versions as "Lexus Hybrid Drive."

    The Prius has become the top selling hybrid car in USA. Toyota now has three hybrid vehicles in its lineup (Prius, Highlander, & Toyota Camry Hybrid). The popular minivan Toyota Sienna is supposed to join the hybrid lineup by 2010, and by 2030 Toyota plans to have its entire lineup of cars, trucks, and SUVs to have a Hybrid Synergy Drive option.

    The Hybrid Synergy drive is the only one enviroment friend system for automotive industry to decrease enviroment harms. More than 1 000 000 units are already sold, and within few years the TOYOTA will enlarge the number of hybrid models.

    Lexus also has their own hybrid lineup, consisting of the Lexus GS 450h, Lexus RX 400h, and launched in 2007, the Lexus LS#UVF45 / UVF46 (2008).

    Toyota is doing plug-in hybrid vehicle (called Toyota Plug-in HV) road test in Japan with possible unveiling in fall 2007.According to the report, Toyota is testing a lithium-ion battery pack in the plug-in. Their strategy is to maintain Toyota's leading position in hybrid technology with the PHEV which has an even lower environmental impact than existing hybrids, competing for mass-production with GM Chevrolet Volt and Ford plug-in hybrids and V2G technology http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/tech/environment/phv/conference/ http://www.calcars.org/calcars-news/798.html

    Toyota in motorsports Rallying Toyota's presence in Motorsport can be traced by to the early 1970s, when Sweden driver, Ove Andersson drove for Toyota during the RAC Rally of Great Britain. During the winter of 1972, Andersson formed Andersson Motorsport in his native country and began running a Rallying program for Toyota. The move turned out to be an impractical one and three years after establishing his team, Andersson moved its base from Sweden to Brussels in Belgium. From there the team was renamed, Toyota Team Europe.

    , World Champion of 1990 World Rally Championship season and 1992 World Rally Championship season, driving the Toyota Corolla WRC during the Monte Carlo Rally of World Rally Championship 1999 results.

    and Toyota Corolla (pictured), are still a popular choice among rally drivers.

    Toyota's first win in motorsport came at the 1975 1000 Lakes Rally of Finland, when Hannu Mikkola and his co-driver, Atso Aho, won the event in a Toyota Corolla. Three years later, the team moved to a new base in Cologne, in western Germany. It wasn't until the 1980s when Toyota began to gain notable success, especially in the African rallies, where Bjorn Waldegaard and Juha Kankkunen were usually top of the time sheets. The team then set-up its all purpose Motorsport facility in Cologne three years later, which is still used today.

    In 1990, Carlos Sainz gave Toyota its first ever Championship win in a Four-wheel drive Toyota Celica and repeated the feat 2 years later. In 1993, Toyota bought the team from Andersson and named it Toyota Motorsport GmbH, in the same year Juha Kankkunen won the WRC title and Toyota won the Contsructors' Championship, becoming the first Japanese Manufacturer to do so. This success was repeated a year earlier, but this time it was France Didier Auriol who was responsible.

    1995 proved to be a difficult year for Toyota, as the team were caught using illegal turbo chargers and were given a 12-month ban by the FIA. The company returned to rallying in 1996, but its competition, notably Mitsubishi and Subaru, had a clearer advantage over their cars.

    World Rally Championship 1997 results would prove to be another uncompetitive year for Toyota, with the team still behind its fellow Japanese manufacturers, Subaru and Mitsubishi, and the Carlos Sainz the highest place Toyota driver in the Drivers' Championship in third place, 11 points behind champion Tommi Mäkinen. Sainz came within 1 point of the World Rally Championship 1998 results title, when his Corolla suffered an engine failure on the final stage of the final rally in United Kingdom, while Toyota were within 6 points of the Contstructors' Championship, many people place the blame on Toyota's choice to run Belgian Freddy Loix as one of the team's points scoring drivers at the Rally of Spain instead of regular driver Didier Auriol, because Auriol managed to win the event ahead of second-placed Loix.

    Toyota decided to quit running in the WRC at the end of the World Rally Championship 1999 results, quoting that "all that can be achieved has been achieved". The team managed to secure the Manufacturers' title in their last season, 18 points ahead of their nearest rival Subaru, while Didier Auriol came within 10 points of the Drivers' title.

    Toyota were replaced the following season by Peugeot, who went on to win the Manufacturers' title in succession from 2000-2002.

    In March 2007, Toyota debuted its Super 2000 Toyota Corolla rally car, which will compete in the Australian Rally Championship. Toyota Super 2000 Corolla debut

    Champ Car Toyota raced in Champ Car from 1996 to 2002. Its early years in the series were marked by struggles. Toyota-powered cars, campaigned by the All-American Racers and PPI Motorsports teams, languished at the back of the grid, slow and unreliable. Toyota didn't even lead a lap until Alex Barron (driver) led 12 laps at the Vancouver street circuit in September 1998.

    Toyota started seeing its fortunes improve in 1999 as Scott Pruett took pole position at the final race of the season at the California Speedway. The next year, Juan Pablo Montoya gave Toyota its first-ever CART win at the Milwaukee Mile, the first of 5 races won by Toyota-powered cars that year. Toyota-powered cars won six races in 2001. In 2002, Toyota's final year in the championship, it turned things around completely from its bleak debut. Toyota won the Manufacturer's championship, 10 races, and Cristiano Da Matta rode Toyota power to the driver's championship, with Bruno Junqueira, also Toyota-powered car, finished second.

    Le Mans was raced in the 1998 and 1999 24 hours of Le Mans. Ex-Formula One drivers: Thierry Boutsen, Martin Brundle and Ukyo Katayama drove the GT-One in both events.

    Toyota started recruiting staff for their Le Mans 24 Hours efforts in 1997, with an aim to start a Formula One team. Toyota's efforts for a Le Mans car was the Toyota GT-One, which was driven by ex-Formula One drivers: Martin Brundle; Thierry Boutsen and Ukyo Katayama. The 3.6 litre twin-turbo GT-Ones were beaten in 1998 and 1999 but came close to victory, breaking down late in the race. The GT-One held the lap record for the Sarthe Circuit up until 2006 however.

    Indy Racing League Toyota moved to the Indy Racing League in 2003 in IRL and provided factory support to former CART teams Penske Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing as well as other teams. They were one of the top engines in their first year, winning the Indianapolis 500 with Gil de Ferran and the championship with Scott Dixon. However, 2004 in IRL and 2005 in IRL were not so kind and wins were few and far between. Following the 2005 in IRL, the Penske and Ganassi teams announced they would switch engines to Honda, leaving Toyota with no championship contenders. As a result of this and their intent to re-allocate resources for NASCAR, Toyota announced they would leave the series during the off-season.

    NASCAR enters pit road at Texas in the #44 UPS Toyota Camry.Toyota races the Toyota Tundra in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and the Toyota Camry in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series as well as the NASCAR Busch Series. Todd Bodine became the first driver to give Toyota their first ever NASCAR championship by winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Title in 2006.

    Toyota's first year in Nextel Cup has been a struggle, posting only six top-10 finishes and one pole position after 28 of 36 races so far in the season.

    Nextel Cup











    Busch Series







    Truck Series











    Formula One (F1) racing logo.

    , Toyota F1's car for the 2007 Formula One season.

    In 2002 Toyota started racing in Formula One with Toyota Team Europe, based in Cologne, Germany. Despite a huge investment, the team's performances have been considered less than average by fans and pundits alike.

    In 2004, designer Mike Gascoyne was hired to help turn things around (as he had done previously at Jordan Grand Prix and Renault F1). However, due to a lack of results and a difference in opinion with the management about how the team should progress he was released from his contract early midway through the 2006 Formula One season; by 2005 the team had advanced from the midfield to infrequently challenging for the top positions. Jarno Trulli achieved two second places and one third place in the first five races of the season, helping the team to retain second position in the Constructors Championship for several races before finishing 4th in the constructors championship. Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher are the team's current drivers.

    In 2007 Formula One season, Toyota are also supplying engines to the WilliamsF1 team.

    Toyota economy Toyota core segment in the market Hybrids are viewed by some automakers as a core segment of the future vehicle market.http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070416/REG/70416014/-1

    TRD Toyota Racing Development was brought about to help develop true high performance racing parts for many Toyota vehicles. TRD has often had much success with their aftermarket tuning parts, as well as designing technology for vehicles used in all forms of racing.

    Shareholders Toyota is publicly traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange under number 7203 (first section). Also on NYSE under .

    Holdings Toyota reports on its consolidated financial statements 540 consolidated subsidiaries and 226 affiliates.



    Accounting Ratios

    {| class="toccolours" border="1" cellpadding="3" style="border-collapse:collapse"| + Toyota Motor Corporation Accounting Ratios |- bgcolor=lightblue! Fiscal Year CorporateInformation Snapshot of Toyota Motor Corporation ! 2006! 2005! 2004! 2003! 2002|- bgcolor=lightblue! Fiscal Year End Date! 3/31/06! 3/31/05! 3/31/04! 3/31/03! 3/31/02|-| Receivables Turnover| 3.6| 3.7| 3.8| 2.5| 2.5|-| Receivables - Number of Days| 93.8| 93.3| 114.2| 139.0| 129.6|-| Inventory Turnover], Depletion & Amortization -||||||-| % of Gross Property, Plant & Equipment| 7.6%| 7.1%| 7.3%| 6.3%| 6.1%|-| Depreciation, Depletion & Amortization -||||||-| Year to Year Change (Japanese Yen)| 21,346.5| 2,780.9| 11,827.0| 4,802.7| 5,385.5|-| Depreciation, Depletion & Amortization -||||||-| Year to Year % Change| 21.4%| 2.9%| 13.9%| 6.0%| 7.2%|-|}



    The Toyota Production System Toyota has long been recognized as an industry leader in manufacturing and production. Three stories of its origin have been found, one that they studied Piggly-Wiggly's just-in-time distribution system, one that they followed the writings of W. Edwards Deming, and one that they were given the principles from an Army training program (see above reference). Regardless of the origin, the principles, described in Jeffrey Liker’s The Toyota Way, are as follows:

  • Base your management decisions on a long-term philosophy, even at the expense of short-term goals
  • Create continuous process flow to bring problems to surface
  • Use “pull” systems to avoid overproduction
  • Level out the workload
  • Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right the first time
  • Standardized tasks are the foundation for continuous improvement and employee empowerment
  • Use visual control so no problems are hidden
  • Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and processes
  • Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work, live the philosophy, and teach it to others
  • Develop exceptional people and teams who follow your company’s philosophy
  • Respect your extended network of partners and suppliers by challenging them and helping them improve
  • Go and see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation (genchi genbutsu)
  • Make decisions slowly by consensus, thoroughly considering all options; implement decisions rapidly
  • Become a learning organization through relentless reflection and continuous improvement


    • Toyota philosophy In Toyota philosophy, zeronise consists in reducing pollution, traffic deaths and road congestion.

    On the other hand, Toyota has been critized to be joining Detroit carmakers (GM, Ford, Daimler) in helping the US auto industry commit assisted suicide http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/03/opinion/03friedman.html , http://www.calcars.org/calcars-news/859.html

    Non-automotive activities Philanthropy Toyota is supporter of Toyota Family Literacy Program along with National Center for Family Literacy, helping low-income community members for education, United Negro College Fund (40 annual scholarships), National Underground Railroad Freedom Center ($1 million) among othershttp://www.toyota.com/about/diversity/2001/philanthropy.html. Toyota created Toyota USA Foundation.

    Higher education Toyota established the Toyota Technological Institute in 1981, as Sakichi Toyoda had planned to establish a university as soon as he and Toyota became successful. Toyota Technological Institute founded the Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago in 2003. Toyota is supporter of "Toyota Driving Expectations Program," "Toyota Youth for Understanding Summer Exchange Scholarship Program," "Toyota International Teacher Program," "Toyota TAPESTRY," "Toyota Community Scholars" (scholarship for high school stud

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    Toyota Motor Corp

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    Toyota Motor Corporation



     
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