From Toyoda to Toyota
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Kiichiro Toyoda – founder Toyota
History
In 1933 the famous Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer company was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda; the son of Toyoda Loom Works founder Sakichi Toyoda. At first it started off as a division of his father’s company but a few years later it broke away and started off as an independent company in 1937.
The journey
In 1935 the company launched the first vehicles A1 passenger car and the G1 truck in 1935. They targeted the customers by mainly offering cheaper cars. The first passenger car of Toyota was sold at a cheaper price than Ford or GM cars. The car was sold 400 yen cheaper than other cars, which was price tagged as 3350 yen.
The journey which started off with Toyota AA have now come up to the latest production; Toyota Land Cruiser Prado. It was never an overnight success. At first it was limited to the country but the “chicken tax” which was imposed in US paved way for the company to establish its roots in US by the early years of 1980s.
Logo
The vehicles were originally introduced to the market under the brand Toyoda which came from the family name of the founder, but a few years later a new logo was selected through a public competition from 27000 entries. The selected logo was one with three Japanese letters for the word Toyota in a circle. And the name was also considered to be prosperous and believed to bring good fortune due to the eight (a lucky number) brush strokes which took to write. The name therefore was changed to Toyota. With the new name and trademark the company was named as the Toyota Motor Company which was registered in 1937.
Though the original logo is no longer found on its vehicles it remains as the corporate emblem which is used in Japan.
Global ranking
Before Toyota rose as a successful company the market was led by the ford company and American General Motors. But in 2005 and 2006, the Toyota Company changed the history by producing more vehicles than the Ford Company. The Toyota Company had since maintained and secured their place, with the exception of 2011 where the business was greatly affected by the Tohoku earthquake and the Tsunami which dropped the rank down to number 3.
The new logo
In 1989 when the company celebrated its 50th birthday the logo was renewed. The new logo combined to form the letter “T”, which stands for Toyota. The overlapping of the two perpendicular ovals inside the larger oval represents the mutually beneficial relationship and trust between the customer and the company while the larger oval surrounding both of these inner ovals represents the “global expansion of Toyota’s technology and unlimited potential for the future”.
The slogan
Toyota came up with the tagline “let’s go places “and had been coming up with methods to prove what was actually projected through the slogan. In 2012 Toyota completed its Platinum jubilee, celebrating 75 years of excellence and success.
Let’s go places
Toyota changed their tagline from “moving forward” to “let’s go places” trying to build up a better relationship with the customers, for they understood their survival is correlative to the support of the customers. Their main aim is to give the best luxury experience by not walking before or behind but by walking beside their customers.
Today
Toyota was the largest automotive manufacturer in 2017 while employing 364,445 world-wide. At present the company headquarter is in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. The company manufactured the 200-millionth vehicle while maintaining the annual production of 10 million plus vehicles, since 2012.
Hybrid vehicles
Toyota motor company is the leader in the market of hybrid vehicles as well as the pioneers in hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. The Prius family was the world’s top sold hybrid vehicle which sold over 6 million units by the end of 2016.
Toyota firmly believed that cars are more than just products. And sure it is, since it’s a luxury.
-Madhusha Dep-
