Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. In 2017, Toyota’s corporate structure consisted of 364,445 employees worldwide and, as of October 2016, was the fifth-largest company in the world by revenue.
Here are 20 interesting facts about Toyota
1. Kichiiro Toyoda is the founder of Toyota
The founder of Toyota was called Kichiiro Toyoda, the son of Sakichi Toyoda who founded Toyoda Automatic Loom Works Ltd.
2. Toyota is 85 years old
Toyota is about 85 years old and gained popular recognition from 1937. Toyota was conceptualized in 1933 as a car manufacturing division under Toyoda Automatic Loom Works Ltd, a company that used to make sewing machines from 1924.
3. Toyota Mirai runs on water
Toyota Mirai is the world’s first full production hydrogen fuel cell car and converts 50 liters of water into 5kg of hydrogen which it can use for 300 miles. Only 3,000 vehicles have been delivered worldwide.
4. Toyota Corolla is the best-selling brand
Toyota Corolla is he best-selling nameplate in the world with more than 40 million units sold and counting since 1966 – 2013.
5. Toyota owns over 5 automobile brands
The automobile brands currently owned by Toyota include Lexus, Scion, Daihatsu, Hino Motors, and has a small stake in Subaru corporation (16.66%), Isuzu (5.9%). Toyota also has some joint-ventures; two in China (GAC Toyota and Sichuan FAW Toyota Motor), one in India (Toyota Kirloskar).
More interesting facts: 15 Interesting Facts about Coca-Cola
6. Toyota is one of the largest automotive manufacturer
Toyota Motor Corporation is the world’s largest automotive manufacturer in 2016 and the largest company in Japan. Toyota produces more than 10,000,000 cars per year.
7. Toyota ranks number 3 in best engine production
Toyota came third in the number of victories from the International Engine of the Year Awards only behind BMW and Volkswagen who received more titles.
8. The Toyota assembly line produces a new car every 5 seconds!
The Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. (TMMK) is Toyota’s largest vehicle manufacturing plant in the world, annually capable of producing 550,000 vehicles and more than 600,000 engines.
9. Toyota reaches over 170 countries
Toyota does business in more than 170 countries and has manufacturing plants in more than 28 countries. The only continent Toyota hasn’t conquered is Antarctica.
10. Toyota invests in flying cars
Toyota is supporting the flying car that will light the Olympic flame in the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games. The SkyDrive was invented by a startup called Cartivator, which belongs to a group of young Toyota engineers and will test flight this year (2018).
11. Toyota is investing in solar powered cars
Toyota is experimenting with solar power technology for cars. They incorporated a solar roof on the 2017 Prius Plug-in Hybrid which powers the internal car electronics and charges the battery when the car is in parking. We look forward to a self-powered car soon.
12. Toyota has the highest budget for R&D
Toyota has the highest Research and Development budget than other automakers in the world. It spends about $1 million on R&D per hour across the world!
13. Toyota has the most cars on the road
8% of most Toyota’s sold 20 years ago are still functional and on the road today.
14. A Toyota Tundra was used to tow a space shuttle
In 2012, The Toyota Tundra was used to tow a 68-ton space shuttle. The pickup delivered the obsolete space shuttle to an honorary parking spot near the scientific center in Los Angeles.
15. Toyota Prius was the first car to go beltless
Toyota has perfected replacing belts in the engine. The company replaced the steering pump, AC, water pump and alternator with electric motors as seen in the 2010 Toyota Prius. This was the first car in the world to go beltless.
16. Toyota has produced over 100 million vehicles
Toyota produced its 100 millionth vehicle in 1999 and its 200 millionth vehicle in 2012.
17. Toyota has the toughest hybrid batteries
Toyota has the most durable hybrid batteries in the market and replacement is a rare occurrence. They are special lithium ion batteries. No wonder the company has sold more than 10 million hybrids all over the world since 1997. Consumer Reports recently tested a 215,000-mile 2003 Prius and found its performance had barely diminished.
18. Toyota owns the highest patents in the world
Toyota holds the record of the highest number of patents in the world. Toyota has more than 1,540 patents in the US alone, expect more cool innovations to come.
19. Toyota participates in several racing competitions
Toyota participates in the most prestigious racing competition, Formula 1 since 2002. The company also participates in other motorsport competitions like WRC.
20. Toyota logo was created in 1989
The Toyota logo was created in October 1989. It has three ovals: the two ovals in the center symbolise a strong relationship between the customer and the company and the union of these ovals makes the letter “T” from the word “Toyota”. The space in the a background embodies the idea of the global expansion of Toyota technology and its unlimited potential in the future.
Author: Lawrence
Lawrence writes about tech, lifestyle, politics, business, crypto and occasionally entertainment. He writes for Newslibre and Spur Magazine while consulting with numerous international companies on strategy, community management and marketing.
He has contributed to the journalism, open source, film, youth, web, Andela and Mozilla communities.
