The History of Toyota

Here at Xcite Car Leasing we know a lot about the modern Toyota models  but we didn’t really know a lot about this Japanese automotive powerhouse’s history and how it became the well-known brand it is today. Which is why we’ve done some research and we wanted to share what we learnt about them.

History of Toyota

Toyoda Looms

Toyota began life in a completely different industry – in the 1890s Sakichi Toyoda began designing and developing looms and he went on to produce the world’s first automatic loom which revolutionised the industry. This loom helped reduce the number of defects and increased yields as it automatically stopped when a flaw was detected and alerted the operator that there was an issue. This stop and alert principle is used to this day in Toyota factories.  

In order to produce and sell his automatic loom Sakichi Toyoda formed the Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, LTD which then became Toyota Industries Corporation in 1926.

The First Toyota Car

In 1933 Sakichi sold his automatic loom patents to the British firm Platt Brothers of Oldham in order to raise money to help launch his son’s dream – an automobile.

Kiichiro Toyoda saw a great future in the automobile industry and was inspired by his visits to modern motor factories in America.

For three years the funds were used to research and develop prototypes until the AA saloon  was ready for the market.

In 1967 they expanded into pickup trucks with the Publica model as well as introducing best selling models like the Corolla, RAV4, and the Prius.

It wasn’t just the automotive side of Toyota that grew, the rest of the Toyota Group also continued to produce looms, industrial vehicles like forklift trucks and manufacturing and investing in the development of diesel and petrol engines. In the mid 80’s they were producing so many different engine types that they ended up separating into their own division.

In 1990 Toyota was awarded the PM (plant maintenance) award which is an award given to companies that strengthen the improvement of an area and contribute to development within the industry by promoting the modernisation of plant maintenance and development of technologies to support this. The award recognised the technological developments that the Toyota Motor Corporation produced and utilised to ensure a safe and efficient working environment that allowed them to make vehicles with minimum defects.

Toyota and Lexus

Many people recognise Lexus as an expensive luxury car brand that produces high-quality high-performance vehicles. But what a lot of people don’t know is that Lexus is a subsidiary of Toyota.

Toyota spent hundreds of hours developing their all-new luxury vehicle to battle the established likes of Audi and Porsche, and was aimed at exports in particular to the US market. The idea for Lexus was born from a need to fill a gap in the Toyota catalogue when the baby boomer generation who had been loyally driving Toyotas through their teens and early 20s but were looking for something a little more luxurious as they became wealthier.

In 1983 Toyota launched a secret project that was internally known as Circle F (with the F standing for flagship model). Ichiro Suzuki had been an engineer at Toyota for 25 years and became the chief engineer for the project.  Over the course of the project over 400 prototypes were created, and they worked with numerous focus groups to fine-tune the vehicle. Within six years the Lexus LS 400 would be created and with it the Lexus brand was established as a premium car manufacturer.

The vehicle had been manufactured for longevity, with high quality materials, comfort finishes and over 1,600 different quality control checks performed during its manufacture.

Since then, Lexus has gone on to become a brand known worldwide for its luxury cars.

Evolution of Toyota Cars: