Toyota is one of the six major automobile brands in the world. Last year, its profits were more than twice the combined profits of General Motors and Ford in the United States. Today, Toyota can be said to be the largest automobile manufacturer in the world. Discussed! Toyota's history can be traced back to 1896. That year, 29-year-old Sakichi Toyoda invented the "Toyota-style steam-powered loom". The loom he invented is not only the first automatic loom in Japan's history that does not rely on manpower, but also, unlike previous looms, one operator can take care of 3 to 4 machines at the same time, which greatly improves efficiency. productive forces. Even the British Prader Company, the world's number one textile machinery manufacturer at the time, also requested the transfer of patent rights to Sakichi Toyoda. In the end, Sakichi paid 100,000 pounds (equivalent to 1 million yen at the time) in 1929 (Showa 4). ), the right to use this patent was sold. Entering the automotive field In 1930, Sakichi Toyoda passed away at the age of 63. What he left to his children was a thriving cotton spinning mill with nearly 10,000 employees. Kiichiro Toyoda, the eldest son of Sakichi Toyoda, is very interested in the world outside Japan. Kiichiro once visited Europe and the United States. He was deeply shocked by the vigorous industrial revolution in Europe and the United States, and cars made his blood boil. He determined that cars must be an important means of transportation in the future. When Kiichiro Toyoda began to develop cars, General Motors and Ford Motor Company in the United States had already become world-famous large companies. In terms of mass production technology and market operations, the strength of the two companies is enough to surpass all other automobile manufacturers in the world, and they have opened their respective automobile assembly plants in Japan. However, Kiichiro Toyoda did not pay too much attention to the actions of the two major American auto giants. He devoted himself wholeheartedly to the creation of a domestic automobile industry based on mass production. Within Toyota Automatic Loom Manufacturing Co., Ltd., a new department, the Automotive Department, was born. On August 28, 1937 (Showa 12), the Automobile Ministry announced its independence from Toyota Automatic Loom Manufacturing Co., Ltd. As a new company with a capital of 12 million yen, "Toyota Automobile Industry Co., Ltd." has since embarked on a new journey. My own new journey. In the newly completed factory, production of AA-type sedans began, with an initial monthly output of only 150 units. A year later, Kiichiro Toyoda, who had firm confidence in the Japanese automobile industry, decisively decided to invest 45 million yen to build a production system with a monthly output of 2,000 vehicles, despite the opposition around him. This huge investment was almost equivalent to the company's Four times the capital! Japan is a country with poor natural resources, so Kiichiro Toyoda believes that developing cars with high fuel consumption, reliability and durability is a crucial issue for the Japanese automobile industry. In 1939, the company established a battery research institute and began to develop electric vehicles. In 1940, Toyota produced approximately 15,000 vehicles, 98 of which were passenger and cargo vehicles. That year it launched a relatively compact new sedan, equipped with a 4-cylinder 2.2-liter 48-horsepower engine, which was closer to Sweden's Volvo PV60 in appearance. Toyota doesn't have much experience in cars though. But it adheres to a creed: imitation is simpler than creation. It would be better if improvements can be made while imitating. Kiichiro has the same philosophy as his father. He knows that he must first produce safe, solid, economical, and traditional cars, rather than innovative products. So for a long time, all Toyota cars had this feature. Devastated by the war, the Pacific War broke out in December 1941. By the end of World War II in August 1945, Japan's industrial production facilities were almost completely destroyed, and Toyota's factories also suffered heavy damage during the war. In the first few years after the war, the Japanese economy was in chaos. For the Japanese automobile industry, which was already quite backward, company employees were all deeply worried about its development prospects. In order to complete the reconstruction of the automobile industry as a pillar industry for peacetime economic development, Toyota decided in September 1945 (Showa 20) to establish a new small car factory based on the original truck mass production system. This decision was made mainly because American automakers do not produce small cars and hope to avoid direct competition with American automakers.
In January 1947, the first small car prototype was finally successfully trial-produced. Based on the principles of fluid mechanics, this prototype car adopts a streamlined body and a spine frame structure, coupled with a four-wheel independent suspension to form a new body mechanism, with a top speed of 87 kilometers per hour. It took another two years from the birth of the prototype car. By 1949, Toyota's business was finally on the track of stable development. Entering a period of development and growth in 1951, the Japanese police reserve at that time invited Japanese car manufacturers to bid for small off-road vehicle projects. Toyota launched the bj series off-road vehicle at that time, with a canvas body. It was proven by the Mount Fuji 6th station climbing test. Due to its off-road performance and durability, this car was not only welcomed by the police reserve team, but also continued to be produced and expanded. This is today's world-famous Land Cruiser series. Today it has developed into the LC100 type, and has also separated from it an SUV that is biased towards urban driving - the Land Cruiser Prado. Nearly 3 million cruisers of all models have been produced so far. In addition, taking advantage of the sharp increase in demand for taxis, it accelerated the production of cars. By 1953, it had increased its monthly production from about 50 vehicles to more than 250 vehicles. This series of achievements became a turning point in Toyota's struggle to complete corporate rejuvenation and get out of trouble. By 1955, Toyota launched a compact sedan with a displacement of 1.5 liters, named Crown RS. Two years later it was exported to the United States under the name toyopet. However, the early Crown sedan, which was only three years old, was eliminated from the U.S. market soon because it was not suitable for the long-distance high-speed driving conditions in the United States that were unimaginable in Japan. From the setback in its entry into the United States to developing a new generation of Toyota Corona sedan suitable for American road conditions and re-entering the U.S. market, it actually took Toyota 6 years! In 1958 (Showa 33), Toyota officially established its own research institute and began to build Japan's first factory dedicated to producing cars. So far, Crown has developed into its 12th generation, with a total output of more than 5 million vehicles, and the 12th generation is about to be produced at a factory in China. In 1962, Toyota began to enter Europe. This year, Toyota's automobile production exceeded the one million mark for the first time. The opening of the Meishin Expressway (Nagoya to Kobe) in 1965 ushered in the high-speed era of highway transportation in Japan. The Japanese automobile industry, which has experienced the war and the post-war blank years, can be said to be the least internationally competitive among all Japanese industrial industries at that time. However, Toyota foresaw that large-scale international trade and capital liberalization would soon sweep across Japan. In order to welcome the new era, Toyota stepped up the development of new cars with higher performance, and at the same time invested in enhancing production capacity and improving quality levels. A great effort was made. All these efforts finally bore fruit, and Toyota won the Deming Award in 1965. In the same year, the Japanese government abolished tariff barriers on imported cars. From then on, Toyota began a real competition with foreign car manufacturers in terms of performance and price! The Corolla (Crown) sedan launched in 1966 was favored by consumers as a family car, thus setting off a Volkswagen craze. Later, it was exported to North America in 1968 and achieved success again, driving sales to rise sharply. To date, Crown has produced nearly 30 million units, which is almost the best-selling car model in the world.