Toyota

Toyota Motor Corporation, headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan, was officially incorporated on August 28, 1937. Its origins stretch back to the Japanese weaving industry: Sakichi Toyoda invented the world's first automatic loom and sold the production rights to a British firm for £100,000 in 1929. He gave that money to his son, Kiichiro Toyoda, to develop automotive technology. Kiichiro established an automobile division within Toyoda Automatic Loom Works in 1933, and the first passenger car, the Model AA, rolled out in 1936.

Toyota is the world's largest automobile manufacturer by production volume, making roughly 10 million vehicles annually. In 2012 it became the first automaker to exceed 10 million vehicles in a single year. Its product range spans cars, trucks, SUVs, and hybrids under the Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu, and Hino brands. The Corolla is one of the best-selling nameplates in automotive history, and the Prius, launched in 1997, was the first mass-produced hybrid. The company also builds the GR performance lineup, GR86, GR Corolla, GR Supra, which, though less than 1% of U.S. volume, influences brand perception and engineering development.

The Toyota Production System, developed by Eiji Toyoda and Taiichi Ohno, introduced just-in-time manufacturing and jidoka (automation with human intelligence), becoming a worldwide benchmark for efficiency. Toyota's revenue for fiscal year 2024 was US$311.157 billion, with net income of US$34.120 billion. It employs about 380,793 people globally and operates in over 170 countries. Interbrand ranked Toyota the world's seventh most valuable brand overall and the top automotive brand, at US$50.291 billion. [edit]