Toyota Owners Club

Toyota Motor Corporation is a multinational corporation headquartered in Japan, and is the world's largest automaker.

In 1934, while still a department of Toyota Industries, it created its first product Type A engine and in 1936 its first passenger car the Toyota AA. The company was eventually founded by Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937 as a spinoff from his father's company Toyota Industries to create automobiles. Toyota currently owns and operates Lexus and Scion brands and has a majority shareholding stake in Daihatsu Motors and minority shareholdings in Fuji Heavy Industries Isuzu Motors, and Yamaha Motors. The company includes 522 subsidiaries.

Toyota is headquartered in Aichi, Nagoya and in Tokyo. In addition to manufacturing automobiles, Toyota provides financial services through its division Toyota Financial Services and also creates robots. Toyota Industries and Finance divisions form the bulk of the Toyota Group, one of the largest conglomerates in the world.

Name
Vehicles were originally sold under the name "Toyoda" (トヨダ), from the family name of the company's founder, Kiichiro Toyoda. In September 1936 the company ran a public competition to design a new logo. Out of 27,000 entries the winning entry was the three Japanese katakana letters for (Toyoda) in a circle. But Risaburo Toyoda, who had married into the family and was not born with that name, preferred "Toyota" (トヨタ) because it took eight brush strokes (a fortuitous number) to write in Japanese, was visually simpler (leaving off two ticks at the end) and sounded better with two "t"s. Since "Toyoda" literally means fertile rice paddies, changing the name also helped to distance the company from associations with old fashioned farming. The newly formed word was trademarked and the company was registered in August 1937 as the "Toyota Motor Company".

In predominantly Chinese speaking countries, Toyota is known as "豊田". This is a direct translation of "Toyoda" (fertile rice paddies) into Chinese.

From September 1947, Toyota's small-sized vehicles were sold under the name "Toyopet" (トヨペット). The first vehicle sold under this name was the Toyopet SA but it also included vehicles such as the Toyopet SB light truck, Toyopet Stout light truck, Toyopet Crown and the Toyopet Corona. However, when Toyota eventually entered the American market in 1957 with the Crown, the name was not well received due to connotations of Toys and pets. The name was soon dropped for the American market but continued in other markets until the mid 1960's.

History

Toyota founder Kiichiro Toyoda

Toyoda Automatic Loom Works created a new division devoted to the production of automobiles under the direction of the founder's son, Kiichiro Toyoda. Kiichiro Toyoda had traveled to Europe and the United States in 1929 to investigate automobile production and had begun researching gasoline-powered engines in 1930. Toyoda Automatic Loom Works was encouraged to develop automobile production by the Japanese government, which needed domestic vehicle production partly due to the worldwide money shortage and partly due to the war with China. In 1934, the division produced its first Type A Engine, which was used in the first Model A1 passenger car in May 1935 and the G1 truck in August 1935. Production of the Model AA passenger car started in 1936. Early vehicles bear a striking resemblance to the Dodge Power Wagon and Chevrolet, with some parts actually interchanging with their American originals.

Although the Toyota Group is best known today for its cars, it is still in the textile business and still makes automatic looms, which are now computerized, and electric sewing machines which are available worldwide.

Toyota Motor Co. was established as an independent and separate company in 1937. Although the founding family's name is Toyoda (豊田), the company name was changed in order to signify the separation of the founders' work life from home life, to simplify the pronunciation, and to give the company a happy beginning. Toyota (トヨタ) is considered luckier than Toyoda (豊田) in Japan, where eight is regarded as a lucky number, and eight is the number of strokes it takes to write Toyota in katakana. In Chinese, the company and its vehicles are still referred to by the equivalent characters (traditional Chinese: 豐田; simplified Chinese: 丰田; pinyin: fēng tián), with Chinese reading.

During the Pacific War (World War II) the company was dedicated to truck production for the Imperial Japanese Army. Because of severe shortages in Japan, military trucks were kept as simple as possible. For example, the trucks had only one headlight on the center of the hood. The war ended shortly before a scheduled Allied bombing run on the Toyota factories in Aichi.

1957 Toyopet Crown
After the war, commercial passenger car production started in 1947 with the model SA. In 1950, a separate sales company, Toyota Motor Sales Co., was established (which lasted until July 1982). In April 1956, the Toyopet dealer chain was established. The following year, the Crown became the first Japanese car to be exported to the United States and Toyota's American and Brazilian divisions, Toyota Motor Sales Inc. and Toyota do Brasil S.A., were also established.

Toyota began to expand in the 1960s with a new research and development facility, a presence in Thailand was established, the 10 millionth model was produced, a Deming Prize and partnerships with Hino Motors and Daihatsu were also established. The first Toyota built outside Japan was in April 1963, at Port Melbourne in Australia. By the end of the decade, Toyota had established a worldwide presence, as the company had exported its one-millionth unit.

With high gas prices and a weak US economy in the summer of 2008, Toyota reported a double-digit decline in sales for the month of June, similar to figures reported by the Detroit Big Three. For Toyota, these were attributed mainly to slow sales of its Tundra pickup, as well as shortages of its fuel-efficient vehicles such as the Prius, Corolla and Yaris. In response, the company has announced plans to idle its truck plants, while shifting production at other facilities to manufacture in-demand vehicles.

Company overview

Concept i-unit
The Toyota Motor Company was awarded its first Japanese Quality Control Award at the start 1970s and began participating in a wide variety of Motorsports. Due to the 1973 oil crisis consumers in the lucrative U.S. market began turning to small cars with better fuel economy. American car manufacturers had considered small economy cars to be an "entry level" product, and their small vehicles were made to a low level of quality in order to keep the price low. Japanese customers, however, had a long-standing tradition of demanding small fuel-efficient cars that were manufactured to a high level of quality. Because of this, companies like Toyota, Honda, and Nissan established a growing presence in North America in the 1970s.

In 1982, the Toyota Motor Company and Toyota Motor Sales merged into one company, the Toyota Motor Corporation. Two years later, Toyota entered into a joint venture with GM called NUMMI, the New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc, operating an automobile manufacturing plant in Fremont, California. The factory was an old General Motors plant that had been closed for several years. Toyota then started to establish new brands at the end of the 1980s, with the launch of their luxury division Lexus in 1989.

In the 1990s Toyota began to branch out from producing mostly compact cars by adding many larger and more luxurious vehicles to its lineup, including a full sized pickup, the T100 (and later the Toyota Tundra), several lines of SUVs, a sport version of the Camry, known as the Camry Solara, and the Scion brand, a group of several affordable, yet sporty, automobiles targeted specifically to young adults. Toyota also began production of the world's best selling hybrid car, the Toyota Prius, in 1997.

With a major presence with Europe, due to the success of Toyota Team Europe, the corporation decided to set up TMME, Toyota Motor Europe Marketing & Engineering, to help market vehicles in the continent. Two years later, Toyota set up a base in the United Kingdom, TMUK, as the company's cars had become very popular among British drivers. Bases in Indiana, Virginia and Tianjin were also set up. In 1999, the company decided to list itself on the New York and London Stock Exchange.

With over 30 million sold, the Toyota Corolla is one of the best selling cars in the world.In 2001, Toyota's Toyo Trust and Banking merged to form the UFJ, United Financials of Japan, which was accused of corruption by the Japan's government for making bad loans to alleged Yakuza crime syndicates with executives accused of blocking Financial Service Agency inspections. The UFJ was listed among Fortune Magazine's largest money-losing corporations in the world, with Toyota's chairman serving as a director.[24] At the time, the UFJ was one of the largest shareholders of Toyota. As a result of Japan's banking crisis, the UFJ was merged again to become Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.

In 2002, Toyota managed to enter a Formula One works team and establish joint ventures with French motoring companies Citroën and Peugeot, a year after Toyota started producing cars in France.

On December 7, 2004, a U.S. press release was issued stating that Toyota would be offering Sirius Satellite Radios. However, as late as Jan. 27, 2007, Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite radio kits were not available for Toyota factory radios.[citation needed] While the press release enumerated nine models, only limited availability existed at the dealer level in the U.S. As of 2008, all Toyota and Scion models have either standard or available XM radio kits. Major Lexus dealerships have been offering satellite radio kits for Lexus vehicles since 2005, in addition to factory-equipped satellite radio models.

In 2007, Toyota released an update of its full size truck, the Toyota Tundra, produced in two American factories, one in Texas and one in Indiana. "Motor Trend" named the Tundra "Truck of the Year," and the 2007 Toyota Camry "Car of the Year" for 2007. It also began the construction of two new factories, one to build the Toyota Rav4 in Woodstock, Ontario and the other to build the Toyota Highlander in Blue Springs, Mississippi. The company has also found recent success with its smaller models - the Corolla and Yaris - as gas prices have risen rapidly in the last few years.

Toyota philosophy
The Toyota Way

Toyota's management philosophy has evolved from the company's origins and has been reflected in the terms "Lean Manufacturing" and Just In Time Production, which it was instrumental in developing. The Toyota Way has four components: 1) Long-term thinking as a basis for management decisions, 2) a process for problem-solving, 3) adding value to the organization by developing its people, and 4) recognizing that continuously solving root problems drives organizational learning The Toyota Way incorporates the Toyota Production System.

The Toyota Production System
Toyota has long been recognized as an industry leader in manufacturing and production. Three stories of its origin have been found, one that they studied Piggly-Wiggly's just-in-time distribution system, one that they followed the writings of W. Edwards Deming, and one that they were given the principles from an Army training program. It is possible that all are true. Regardless of the origin, the principles, described in Toyota's management philosophy, The Toyota Way, are as follows:

Base your management decisions on a long-term philosophy, even at the expense of short-term goals
Create continuous process flow to bring problems to the surface
Use “pull” systems to avoid overproduction
Level out the workload
Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right the first time
Standardized tasks are the foundation for continuous improvement and employee empowerment
Use visual control so no problems are hidden
Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and processes
Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work, live the philosophy, and teach it to others
Develop exceptional people and teams who follow your company’s philosophy
Respect your extended network of partners and suppliers by challenging them and helping them improve
Go and see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation (genchi genbutsu)
Make decisions slowly by consensus, thoroughly considering all options; implement decisions rapidly
Become a learning organization through relentless reflection and continuous improvement .

Operations

Toyota Pavilion at the Expo in AichiToyota has grown to a large multinational corporation from where it started and expanded to different worldwide markets and countries by becoming the largest seller of cars in the beginning of 2007, the most profitable automaker ($11 billion in 2006) along with increasing sales in, among other countries, the United States. The world headquarters of Toyota are located in its home country in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. Its subsidiary, Toyota Financial Services sells financing and participates in other lines of business. Toyota brands include Scion and Lexus and the corporation is part of the Toyota Group. Toyota also owns majority stakes in Daihatsu, and 8.7% of Fuji Heavy Industries, which manufactures Subaru vehicles. They also acquired 5.9% of Isuzu Motors Ltd. on November 7, 2006 and will be introducing Isuzu diesel technology into their products.

Toyota has introduced new technologies including one of the first mass-produced hybrid gas-electric vehicles, of which it says it has sold 1 million globally (2007-06-07), Advanced Parking Guidance System (automatic parking), a four-speed electronically controlled automatic with buttons for power and economy shifting, and an eight-speed automatic transmission. Toyota, and Toyota-produced Lexus and Scion automobiles, consistently rank near the top in certain quality and reliability surveys, primarily J.D. Power and Consumer Reports.

In 2005, Toyota, combined with its half-owned subsidiary Daihatsu Motor Company, produced 8.54 million vehicles, about 500,000 fewer than the number produced by GM that year. Toyota has a large market share in the United States, but a small market share in Europe. Its also sells vehicles in Africa and is a market leader in Australia. Due to its Daihatsu subsidiary it has significant market shares in several fast-growing Southeast Asian countries.

Toyota Century is the official state car of the emperor Akihito.according to the 2008 Fortune Global 500, Toyota Motor is the fifth largest company in the world. Since the recession of 2001, it has gained market share in the United States. Toyota's market share struggles in Europe where its Lexus brand has three tenths of one percent market share, compared to nearly two percent market share as the U.S. luxury segment leader.

In the first three months of 2007, Toyota together with its half-owned subsidiary Daihatsu reported number one sales of 2.348 million units. Toyota's brand sales had risen 9.2% largely on demand for Corolla and Camry sedans. The difference in performance was largely attributed to surging demand for fuel-efficient vehicles. In November 2006, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas added a facility in San Antonio. Toyota has experienced quality problems and was reprimanded by the government in Japan for its recall practices. Toyota currently maintains over 16% of the US market share and is listed second only to GM in terms of volume. Toyota Century is the official state car of the Japanese imperial family, namely for the Emperor of Japan Akihito.

Worldwide presence
Toyota has factories all over the world, manufacturing or assembling vehicles for local markets, including the Corolla. Toyota has manufacturing or assembly plants in Japan, Australia, India, Canada, Indonesia, Poland, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Brazil, Portugal, and more recently Pakistan, Argentina, Czech Republic, Mexico, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Vietnam, Venezuela, the Philippines, and Russia.

In 2002, Toyota initiated the "Innovative International Multi-purpose vehicle" project (IMV) to optimize global manufacturing and supply systems for pickup trucks and multipurpose vehicles, and to satisfy market demand in more than 140 countries worldwide. IMV called for diesel engines to be made in Thailand, gasoline engines in Indonesia and manual transmissions in the Philippines, for supply to the countries charged with vehicle production. For vehicle assembly, Toyota would use plants in Thailand, Indonesia, Argentina and South Africa. These four main IMV production and export bases supply Asia, Europe, Africa, Oceania, Latin America and the Middle East with three IMV vehicles: The Toyota Hilux (Vigo), the Toyota Fortuner, and the Toyota Innova.

Toyota has invested considerably into cleaner-burning vehicles such as the Toyota Prius, based on technology such as the Hybrid Synergy Drive. In 2002, Toyota successfully road-tested a new version of the RAV4 which ran on a Hydrogen fuel cell. Scientific American called the company its Business Brainwave of the Year in 2003 for commercializing an affordable hybrid car.

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America
The Toyota Camry is assembled in several facilities around the world including Australia, China (PRC and ROC), Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia, Thailand, and the United States.Toyota Motor North America headquarters is located in New York City and operates at a holding company level in North America. Its manufacturing headquarters is located in Hebron, Kentucky, and is known as Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America, or TEMA.

Toyota has a large presence in the United States with five major assembly plants in Huntsville, Alabama; Georgetown, Kentucky; Princeton, Indiana; San Antonio, Texas; Buffalo, West Virginia; and a new one being built in Blue Springs, Mississippi. Toyota also has a joint-venture operation with General Motors at New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI), in Fremont, California, which began in 1984, and with Subaru at Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. (SIA), in Lafayette, Indiana, which started in 2006. Production on a new manufacturing plant in Tupelo, Mississippi is scheduled for completion in 2010. North America is a major automobile market for Toyota. In these assembly plants, the Toyota Camry and the 2007 Toyota Tundra are manufactured, among others.

Toyota marketing, sales, and distribution in the U.S. are conducted through a separate subsidiary, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. Toyota uses a number of slogans in its American TV commercials such as It's time to move forward, Smart way to keep moving forward, or Moving forward. It has started producing larger trucks, such as the new Toyota Tundra, to go after the large truck market in the United States. Toyota is also pushing hybrid vehicles in the US such as the Toyota Prius, Toyota Camry Hybrid, Highlander Hybrid, and various Lexus products.

Toyota has sold more hybrid vehicles in the country than any other manufacturer. Toyota is a public corporation and the company's shares are traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange. Toyota also sponsors Chivas de Guadalajara.

United States employees and investments
Toyota directly employed around 34,675 people in the United States, invested USD $15.5 billion, produced 1.2 million vehicles using US and foreign auto parts, sold 2.54 million vehicles, and donated USD $340 million to nonprofits. [34] It has in total 10 plants, USD $2.9 billion per year payroll, purchased USD $28 billion in parts and supplies from 30 states. It created around 386,000 jobs in the United States as result of Toyota's spending and demand from suppliers. It celebrated its 50th year anniversary in the United States in 2008.

Online
The domain toyota.com attracted at least 30 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com survey.

Hybrid and Electric Technology

Toyota Prius, flagship of Toyota's hybrid technologyMain articles: Hybrid Synergy Drive and Hybrid electric vehicle
Toyota is one of the largest companies to push hybrid vehicles in the market and the first to commercially mass-produce and sell such vehicles, an example being the Toyota Prius. The company eventually began providing this option on the main smaller cars such as Camry and later with the Lexus divisions, producing some hybrid luxury vehicles. It labeled such technology in Toyota cars as "Hybrid Synergy Drive" and in Lexus versions as "Lexus Hybrid Drive."

The Prius has become the top selling hybrid car in America. Toyota, as a brand, now has three hybrid vehicles in its lineup: the Prius, Highlander, and Camry. The popular minivan Toyota Sienna is scheduled to join the hybrid lineup by 2010, and by 2030 Toyota plans to offer its entire lineup of cars, trucks, and SUVs with a Hybrid Synergy Drive option.

The Hybrid Synergy drive is the most widely rolled-out environment-friendly system in the automotive industry to date. More than 1,000,000 units have been sold. Toyota's CEO has committed to making every car of Toyota a hybrid vehicle eventually (though all hybrid versions may not be sold in the U.S.).

Lexus LS 600h hybrid sedan.Lexus also has their own hybrid lineup, consisting of the GS 450h, RX 400h, and launched in 2007, the LS 600h/LS 600h L.

Toyota has said it plans to make a hybrid-electric system available on every vehicle it sells worldwide sometime in the next 2010s decade.

Plug-in hybrids
After General Motors announced it would produce the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, Toyota announced that it, too, would make one.[39] Toyota is currently testing its "Toyota Plug-in HV" in Japan, the United States, and Europe. Like GM's Volt, it uses a lithium-ion battery pack. The PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) could have a lower environmental impact than existing hybrids.

On June 5, 2008, A123Systems announced that its Hymotion plug-in hybrid conversion kits for the Toyota Prius would be installed by six dealers, including four Toyota dealerships: Westboro Toyota in Boston, Fitzgerald Toyota in Washington D.C., Toyota of Hollywood in Los Angeles, and the Minneapolis-based Denny Hecker Automotive Group, which sells multiple brands.

All-electric vehicles
Toyota is speeding up the development of vehicles that run only on electricity with the aim of mass-producing them in the early part of next decade. Road tests for the current prototype, called "e-com", had ended in 2006.

Prius Brand
Toyota might create separate brand for Prius hybrids and is considering adding larger and smaller Prius models. Prius brand would be similar to Scion. Toyota is not planning separate dealerships for Prius.

Toyota Trucks

2007 Toyota Tundra Double CabThe Toyota Tundra is a full-size pickup truck sold by Toyota that originally went into production in 1999 (as a 2000 model year model), Currently, the Tundra has been on the market for more than half a decade, and has captured 17 percent of the full-size half-ton market.

The all new Tundra is assembled in two different locations, both inside the United States. The Standard and Double Cabs are assembled in "Truck Country" San Antonio, Texas, while the Crew Max are assembled in Gibson County, Indiana. Toyota Motor Corporation assembled around 150,000 Standard and Double Cabs, and only 70,000 Crew Max's in 2007. As of November 2008 the San Antonio Plant will be the only one producing Tundra Trucks.

In addition to the Tundra, Toyota also produces the Tacoma, with a smaller body and smaller engine than its big brother.

External links
Toyota Motor official global site, in English
Toyota Motor official global site, in Japanese
Toyota Safety Brand site
Daryl's Unofficial Toyota Web Site List - This website was the first world wide web link list for Toyota since 1995 and consists of Toyota distributors, clubs, dealers, repair shops, parts, recalls and other information.
Toyota Organization Chart
Toyota Australia Pressroom media information service
Lexus Australia Pressroom media information service
TRD Australia Pressroom media information service
Toyota Material Handling Australia Pressroom media information service

Toyota Motorsports
Toyota is active in motorsports and sponsors such events through their cars among others.
Since it's introduction to motorsports in the early 1970s, Toyota has been involved in a number of motorsport activities, most notably in Formula One, NASCAR, IndyCar, sports car racing, and rallying. Currently, Toyota participates in Formula One and NASCAR, although Toyota cars are still entered in rally competitions these are privateer entries and are not backed by the company themselves.

Formula One (F1)

Toyota F1

The Toyota TF107, Toyota F1's car for the 2007 Formula One season.In 2002 Toyota started racing in Formula One with Toyota Team Europe, based in Cologne, Germany. Despite a huge investment, the team's performances have been considered less than average by fans and pundits alike.

In 2004, designer Mike Gascoyne was hired to help turn things around (as he had done previously at Jordan Grand Prix and Renault F1). However, due to a lack of results and a difference in opinion with the management about how the team should progress he was released from his contract early midway through the 2006 season; by 2005 the team had advanced from the midfield to infrequently challenging for the top positions. Jarno Trulli achieved two second places and one third place in the first five races of the season, helping the team to retain second position in the Constructors Championship for several races before finishing 4th in the constructors championship. Drivers for season 2008 are Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock. Timo Glock will replace Ralf Schumacher.

In 2007, Toyota are also supplying engines to the Williams team.

NASCAR
Toyota races the Toyota Tundra in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and the Toyota Camry in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series as well as the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Dale Jarrett enters pit road at Texas in the #44 UPS Toyota Camry in their inaugural season.
Goody's Dash Series
Toyota made its first move into the NASCAR ranks with the introduction of its V6-Celica Goody's Dash program in 2000. Robert Huffman helped make Toyota a legitimate contender for the series title by its second season while placing second in the championship in both 2001 and 2002. In 2003, Huffman broke through to become Toyota's first-ever NASCAR champion to win the series title.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Bill Davis Racing, Billy Ballew Motorsports, Germain Racing, HT Motorsports, Red Horse Racing, and Wyler Racing currently run the Toyota Tundra in the Craftsman Truck Series. Travis Kvapil gave Toyota it's first win in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in the 2004 Line-X 200 at Michigan International Speedway in his Tundra sponsored by Line-X and owned by Bang! Racing. Todd Bodine became the first driver to give Toyota their first ever NASCAR championship by winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Title in 2006.

NASCAR Nationwide Series
Joe Gibbs Racing, Michael Waltrip Racing, Braun Racing and Germain Racing currently run Toyota Camrys in the Nationwide Series. Jason Leffler gave Toyota it's first win in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in the Kroger 200 at O'Reilly Raceway Park on July 28, 2007 in his Camry sponsored by Great Clips and owned by Braun Racing.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Kyle Busch has already given Toyota 17 wins in NASCAR: eight of its nine wins in the Sprint Cup Series, six in the Nationwide Series, and three in the Craftsman Truck Series. Toyota has 33 wins combined in NASCAR's top three series this season.Michael Waltrip Racing, Bill Davis Racing, Red Bull Racing Team, Joe Gibbs Racing, Hall of Fame Racing, and BAM Racing currently run Toyota Camrys in the Sprint Cup Series.

After success in the Craftsman Truck Series, Toyota moved to the then Busch Series (now Nationwide Series) and NEXTEL Cup Series (now the Sprint Cup Series) with the Toyota Camry for 2007. Three relatively new, small teams spearheaded the initial Toyota Cup program: Michael Waltrip Racing, Bill Davis Racing, and Red Bull Racing Team. Toyota has struggled in its first season in Sprint Cup, harnessing only two poles in 36 races, and posting only one five top-5 and ten top-10 finishes across 7 Toyota teams. After the 2007 season, Toyota added 3-time champion Joe Gibbs Racing and affiliate Hall of Fame Racing to the Camry lineup. BAM Racing also joined Toyota Motorsports early in the 2008 season.

Kyle Busch gave Toyota its first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win in the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 9, 2008. Busch led a race-high 173 laps in his Snickers sponsored Camry, owned by Joe Gibbs Racing. [1] The only drivers that have won in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with the Toyota Camry so far are Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin. Midway through the 2008 season, Toyota has more Sprint Cup victories than any other manufacturer.

CART IndyCar World Series/IRL IndyCar Series
Toyota raced in the CART IndyCar World Series from 1996 to 2002. Its early years in the series were marked by struggles. Toyota-powered cars, campaigned by the All-American Racers and PPI Motorsports teams, languished at the back of the grid, slow and unreliable. Toyota didn't even lead a lap until Alex Barron led 12 laps at the Vancouver street circuit in September 1998.

Toyota started seeing its fortunes improve in 1999 as Scott Pruett took pole position at the final race of the season at the California Speedway. The next year, Juan Pablo Montoya gave Toyota its first-ever CART win at the Milwaukee Mile, the first of 5 races won by Toyota-powered cars that year. Toyota-powered cars won six races in 2001. In 2002, Toyota's final year in the championship, it turned things around completely from its bleak debut. Toyota won the Manufacturer's championship, 10 races, and Cristiano Da Matta rode Toyota power to the driver's championship, with Bruno Junqueira, also Toyota-powered car, finished second.

Toyota moved to the IRL IndyCar Series in 2003 and provided factory support to former CART teams Team Penske and Target Chip Ganassi Racing as well as other teams. They were one of the top engines in their first year, winning the Indianapolis 500 with Gil de Ferran and the championship with Scott Dixon. However, 2004 and 2005 were not so kind and wins were few and far between. Following the 2005 IndyCar Series, Team Penske and Target Chip Ganassi Racing announced they would switch to Honda engines, leaving Toyota with no championship contenders. As a result of this and their intent to re-allocate resources for NASCAR, Toyota announced they would leave the IndyCar Series during the off-season.

Le Mans
The Toyota GT-One was raced in the 1998 and 1999 24 hours of Le Mans. Ex-Formula One drivers: Thierry Boutsen, Martin Brundle and Ukyo Katayama drove the GT-One in both events.Toyota started recruiting staff for their Le Mans efforts in 1997, with an aim to start a Formula One team. Toyota's efforts for a Le Mans car was the Toyota GT-One, which was driven by ex-Formula One drivers: Martin Brundle; Thierry Boutsen and Ukyo Katayama. The 3.6 litre twin-turbo GT-Ones were beaten in 1998 and 1999 but came close to victory, breaking down late in the race. The GT-One held the lap record for the Sarthe Circuit up until 2006 however.

Rallying

Toyota's presence in motorsport can be traced back to the latter part of 1972, when Swedish driver, Ove Andersson, drove for Toyota during the RAC Rally of Great Britain. During the winter of 1972, Andersson formed Andersson Motorsport in his native country and began running a Rallying program for Toyota. The move turned out to be an impractical one and three years after establishing his team, Andersson moved its base from Sweden to Brussels in Belgium. From there the team was renamed, Toyota Team Europe.

Toyota's first win in motorsport came at the 1975 1000 Lakes Rally of Finland, when Hannu Mikkola and his co-driver, Atso Aho, won the event in a Toyota Corolla. Three years later, the team moved to a new base in Cologne, in western Germany. It wasn't until the 1980s when Toyota began to gain notable success, especially in the African rallies, where Björn Waldegård and Juha Kankkunen were usually top of the time sheets. The team then set-up its all purpose motorsport facility in Cologne three years later, which is still used today.

In the 1990 season, Carlos Sainz gave Toyota its first ever championship win in a four-wheel drive Toyota Celica and repeated the feat two years later. In 1993, Toyota bought the team from Andersson and named it Toyota Motorsport GmbH, in the same year Juha Kankkunen won the WRC title and Toyota won the constructors' championship, becoming the first Japanese manufacturer to do so. This success was repeated a year earlier, but this time it was Frenchman Didier Auriol who was responsible.

Carlos Sainz, World Champion of 1990 and 1992, driving the Toyota Corolla WRC during the Monte Carlo Rally of 1999.1995 proved to be a difficult year for Toyota, as the team were caught using illegal turbo chargers and were given a 12-month ban by the FIA. The company returned to rallying in the 1996 season, but its competition, notably Mitsubishi and Subaru, had a clearer advantage over their cars.

1997 would prove to be another uncompetitive year for Toyota, with the team still behind its fellow Japanese manufacturers, Subaru and Mitsubishi, and Carlos Sainz the highest placed Toyota driver in the drivers' championship in third place, 11 points behind champion Tommi Mäkinen. Sainz came within one point of the 1998 title, when his Corolla suffered an engine failure on the final stage of the final rally in Great Britain, while Toyota were within six points of the constructors' championship, many people place the blame on Toyota's choice to run Belgian Freddy Loix as one of the team's points scoring drivers at the Rally Catalunya instead of regular driver Didier Auriol, because Auriol managed to win the event ahead of second-placed Loix.

Toyota decided to quit running in the WRC at the end of the 1999 season, quoting that "all that can be achieved has been achieved". The team managed to secure the manufacturers' title in their last season, 18 points ahead of their nearest rival Subaru, while Didier Auriol came within 10 points of the Drivers' title. Toyota were replaced the following season by Peugeot, who went on to win the manufacturers' title in succession from 2000-2002.

In March 2007, Toyota debuted its Super 2000 Corolla rally car, which will compete in the Australian Rally Championship.

References

Websites
"GrandPrix.com GP Encyclopedia > Toyota Motorsport". GrandPrix.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-19.

Car Marques
Toyota • Lexus • Scion • Daihatsu • Hino • Subaru (FHI shareholder) • Isuzu (shareholder)

Current vehicles
4Runner • Allion • Alphard • Aurion • Auris • Avalon • Avanza • Avensis • Aygo • bB • Belta • Blade • Brevis • Caldina • Camry • Camry Hybrid • Camry Solara • Century • Coaster •Comfort • Corolla • Crown • Dyna • Estima • FJ Cruiser • Fortuner • Harrier • Harrier Hybrid • Hiace • Highlander • Highlander Hybrid • Hilux • Hilux Surf • Hilux SW4 • Innova • Ipsum • Isis • ist • Kijang • Kluger • Land Cruiser • LandCruiser 70 Series • Land Cruiser Prado • Liteace • Matrix • Mark X • Mark X Zio (マークXジオ) • Noah • Passo • Porte • Premio • Previa • Prius • Probox • Qualis • QuickDelivery (クイックデリバリー) • Ractis • Raum • RAV4 • RegiusAce (レジアスエース) • Reiz • Revo • Rush • Sequoia • Sienna • Sienta • Succeed • Tacoma • Tarago • TownAce • ToyoAce (トヨエース) • Tundra • Vanguard • Venza • Vios • Vitz • Voxy (ヴォクシー) • WISH • Yaris

Past vehicles
2000GT • AA • Allex • Altezza • Aristo • Cami • Carina • Carina ED (カリーナED) • Celica • Celsior • Chaser • Classic • Corolla Levin • Corolla Levin (AE86) • Corona • Corona EXiV (コロナEXiV) • Cressida • Cresta (クレスタ) • Cynos • FA/DA • DA115 • Duet (デュエット) • Echo • FJ40 • Fun Cargo • Granvia • Lexcen • Macho • Mark II • Mark II Blit (マークIIブリット) • Mega Cruiser • MR2 • MR-S • Opa (オーパ) • Origin • Paseo • Picnic • Platz • Progrés • Pronard • Publica • Regius (レジアス) • Scepter • Sports 800 • SA • Sera • Soarer • Space Cruiser • Sprinter Trueno• Sprinter Trueno (AE86) • Starlet • Stout • Supra • T100 • Tamaraw • Tercel • Tiara • Van • Verossa • Vista • Voltz • WiLL • Windom

Concept vehicles
A-BAT • Alessandro Volta • CS&S • Camry TS-01 • eCom • GTV • F3R • FINE-N • FINE-S • FT-HS • FT-SX • FTX • i-swing • iQ • i-unit • Motor Triathlon Race Car • NLSV • PM • Pod • RSC • Sportivo Coupe

Toyota Clubs
Toyota Mr2 MK1 Club - (Contact Info) Loughborough, United Kingdom
Arizona Land Cruiser Association - (Contact Info) Phoenix, AZ
Basin & Range Cruisers - (Contact Info) Salt Lake City, UT
Capital Land Cruiser Club - (Contact Info) McLean, VA
Dakota Territory Cruisers - (Contact Info) Rapid City, SD
Eastern Washington Land Cruiser Association - (Contact Info) Kennewick, WA
Florida Land Cruiser Association - (Contact Info) Ocala, FL
Georgia Cruisers Four-Wheel Drive Club - (Contact Info) Atlanta, GA
Gold Coast Cruisers - (Contact Info) Ventura, CA
Great Lakes Land Cruisers - (Contact Info) Bloomfield Hills, MI United States
Green Country Cruisers - (Contact Info) Collinsville, OK
High Sierra Club - (Contact Info) Visalia, CA
Hoosier Cruiser - (Contact Info) Bloomington, IN
Minnesota Toyx4's - (Contact Info) Minneapolis, MN
MR2 Owners Club - (Contact Info) Victoria, BC CANADA
New England Toyota Land Cruiser Association - (Contact Info) Harrisville, RI
Nor-Cal Marauders - (Contact Info) Redding, CA
Northwest Cruisers of Idaho - (Contact Info) none, ID
Pacific Mountain Cruisers - (Contact Info) Healdsburg, CA
Puget Sound Toyota Owners Club - (Contact Info) Kirkland, WA
Rocky Mountain Land Cruiser Association - (Contact Info) Calgary, AB Canada
Southern California Toyota Land Cruisers - (Contact Info) Trabuco Canyon, CA
Team UP - Toyota 700 and 800 cc - (Contact Info) Gig Harbor, WA United States
The MR2 Owners Club (MR2OC) - (Contact Info) Scottsville, VA
Toyota 2000 GT Owners Club - (Contact Info) Saco, ME
Toyota Land Cruiser Association - (Contact Info) Windsor, CA
Toyota Land Cruiser Association - (Contact Info) Los Angeles, CA
Toys 4 Fun - (Contact Info) Fresno, CA
Toys on the Rocks - (Contact Info) Placerville, CA
Upper Canada Cruisers - (Contact Info) North York, Ont Canada
Virginia Land Cruiser Association - (Contact Info) Yorktown, VA
Wilderness Toys - (Contact Info) Federal Way, WA
Windy City Land Cruisers - (Contact Info) Wauconda, IL