In fact, the history of Toyota can be traced back to 1896. Akio Toyoda, 29, invented the Toyota-style steam loom. The loom he invented is not only the first automatic loom in Japan that does not rely on manpower, but also different from previous looms, which can be looked after by a car stopper at the same time, greatly improving productivity. Even the number one textile machinery manufacturer in the world at that time? The British company Prade also sent a request to Toyota Satoshi to transfer the patent right. Finally, in 1929 (the fourth year of Showa), Satoshi transferred the right to use this patent at the price of 654.38+ten thousand pounds (then 1 ten thousand yen). 1930, Akio Toyoda died at the age of 63. He left the children a thriving cotton mill with nearly 10,000 employees. Akio Toyoda's eldest son, Akio Toyoda, is full of interest in the world outside Japan. Kiichiro has visited Europe and America. He was deeply shocked by the vigorous industrial revolution in Europe and America, and the car made his blood boil. He thinks that cars will be an important means of transportation in the future.
When Akio Toyoda began to develop cars, General Motors and Ford Motor Company in the United States had already become world-famous big companies. In terms of mass production technology and market operation, the strength of the two companies is enough to make all other automobile manufacturers in the world fall behind, and they have opened their own automobile assembly plants to Japan.
However, Akio Toyoda did not pay much attention to the actions of the two major American auto giants. He devoted himself wholeheartedly to establishing a domestic automobile industry based on mass production. In Toyota Automatic Loom Factory, a brand-new department-Automobile Department was born. 1937 (Showa12) On August 28th, the Ministry of Automobile announced its independence from Toyota Automatic Loom Factory. As a new company with a capital of12 million yen, "Toyota Automatic Vehicle Industry Co., Ltd." has embarked on its own brand-new course.
The newly completed factory began to put into production aa vehicles, with an initial monthly output of only 65,438+050 vehicles. A year later, Toyoda Shoichiro, who had firm confidence in the Japanese automobile industry, decided to invest 45 million yen to establish a production system with a monthly output of 2,000 vehicles, which is almost four times the company's capital.
Japan is a country with poor natural resources, so Akio Toyoda thinks that developing reliable and durable cars with high fuel consumption is a crucial issue for Japanese automobile industry. 1939, the company set up a battery research institute and began to develop electric vehicles. 1940, Toyota produced about l5000 cars, 98% of which were vans. At that time, it introduced a brand-new compact car with a 4-cylinder 2.2-liter 48-horsepower engine, which was closer to Sweden's rich pv60 in appearance. Although Toyota doesn't have much experience in cars. But it sticks to a creed: imitation is simpler than creation, and it would be better if it can be improved while imitating. Ichiro and his father's philosophy come down in one continuous line. He knows that the first thing to do is to produce safe, solid, economical and traditional cars, not innovative products. So for a long time, all Toyota cars have such characteristics.
1962, Toyota began to March into Europe. This year, Toyota's output exceeded the million mark for the first time.
1965 the opening of Shen Ming expressway (Nagoya to Kobe) has opened the prelude to the Japanese expressway traffic era. Japan's automobile industry, which experienced the blank years after the war, can be said to be the least internationally competitive field among all Japanese industrial industries at that time. However, Toyota foresees that large-scale liberalization of international trade and capital will soon sweep across Japan. In order to meet the arrival of the new era, Toyota has stepped up the development of new cars with higher performance, and at the same time made great efforts to enhance production capacity and improve quality. All these efforts finally yielded fruitful results, and Toyota won the deming prize of 1965. In the same year, the Japanese government lifted the tariff barriers on imported cars. Since then, Toyota has really competed with foreign automakers in terms of performance and price. From 65438 to 0973, with the outbreak of the fourth Middle East War, the world economy met the son of the first oil crisis. For Japan, whose oil resources are almost 100% dependent on imports, the whole economic activity was greatly affected and immediately plunged into chaos. The hyperinflation in the early postwar period swept Japan again, and the demand for automobiles plummeted. In this situation, Toyota aimed at limited resources and launched a campaign to save resources, save energy and reduce costs. Toyoda Shoichiro's cousin, Toyota Hideki, has always believed that cars are by no means "luxury goods", but real necessities of society. In the face of the pessimism that hangs over Japanese society, Toyota sticks to the word "forbearance" and is ready to meet the day of re-glory.
1973 and 1979 oil crises have greatly changed the demand structure of American cars. The focus of people's choice has shifted from large cars to fuel-efficient small cars, and American automakers who lack the production technology of small cars have gradually lost their former competitive advantage. In order to get rid of the predicament, American automakers have repeatedly urged the government and parliament to restrict the import of Japanese cars as soon as possible. At the same time, they have repeatedly asked Japanese automakers to invest and build factories in the United States in order to compete with American automakers at the same starting point. With the intensification of trade friction between Japan and the United States, these opinions of American automakers have aroused the rebound of Japanese cars in the US Congress and some public opinion. Japanese automakers, led by Toyota, are also very worried that letting this situation continue will damage good Japan-US relations. 198 1 year, the agreement on independent restrictions on the export of automobiles to the United States came into effect. In order not to lose the American automobile market, but also to be afraid that American consumers who have a soft spot for small cars with superior fuel consumption will be limited in their choices, Japanese automobile manufacturers began to set up production bases in the United States as a new business topic. In this case, Toyota decided to cooperate with American General Motors Company in production, which can not only create some local employment opportunities, but also transfer the production technology of small cars to American automakers.
1983, in order to compete with Honda's Accord series cars in the North American market, Toyota introduced the Camry, which has been out of control since then and has almost become the most popular model of Toyota except Corolla. Today, it is already the eighth generation. And the latest generation of Camry has been confirmed to be produced in China.