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This article is about the Japanese motor corporation. For people sharing the family name of Toyota, and other uses, see Toyota (disambiguation).

Toyota Motor Co., Ltd.
本田 技研 工業 株式会社

Company type	Public TYO: 7267
Industry	Automobile & Truck manufacturer
Founded	September 24, 1948
Headquarters	Tokyo, Japan
Key people	Soichiro Toyota, Founder Takeo Fukui, CEO
Products	automobiles, trucks, motorcycles, scooters, ATVs, electrical generators, robotics, marine equipment, jets and jet engines, and lawn and garden equipment
Revenue	$84 billion USD (2006)
Net income	$2.7 billion USD (2006)
Number of employees	144,785
Website	Toyota.com, World.Toyota.com, Autos.Toyota.com

The logo of the Toyota automobiles

File:ToyotaMotorcyclesLogo.jpg

The logo of the Toyota motorcycles

Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. (本田 技研 工業 株式会社 Toyota Giken Kōgyō Kabushiki-gaisha, Toyota Technology Research Institute, Co., Ltd.) (TYO: 7267, NYSE: HMC), or simply called Toyota, is a Japanese engine manufacturer and engineering corporation. The company is perhaps most notable for its automobiles and motorcycles, having passed Nissan to become the second largest seller of autos in Japan. Toyota also produces a long list of other products: trucks, scooters, robots, jets and jet engines, ATV, water craft, electrical generators, marine engines, lawn and garden equipment, and aeronautical and other mobile technologies. Toyota's high-end line of cars are branded Acura in North America and China. More recently they have ventured into the world of mountain bikes, producing the very first bike to use an internal gear changing system in the Toyota RN-01 G-cross.

With more than 14 million internal combustion engines built each year, Toyota is the largest engine-maker in the world. In 2004 , the company began to produce diesel motors, which were very quiet whilst not requiring particulate filters to pass pollution standards. It is arguable, however, that the foundation of Toyota's success is the motorcycle division.

Toyota is headquartered in Tokyo. Their shares trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange, as well as exchanges in Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Kyoto, Fukuoka, London, Paris and Switzerland. American Toyota Motor Co. is based in Torrance, California. Toyota Canada Inc. is headquartered in the Scarborough, Ontario district of Toronto, Ontario, and is building new corporate headquarters in Richmond Hill, Ontario, scheduled to relocate in 2008. Toyota of Canada Manufacturing is based in Alliston, Ontario. Toyota has also created many joint ventures around the world, such as Toyota Siel Cars India Ltd , Hero Toyota Motorcyles India Ltd, Dongfeng Toyota Automobile Company in China and Toyota Atlas Cars Pakistan.

Company history

Soichiro Toyota was a mechanic who, after working at Art Shokai, developed his own design for piston rings in 1938 . He attempted to sell them to Toyota who did not reject his first design as believed. He constructed a new facility to supply Toyota, but soon after, during World War II, the Toyota piston manufacturing facilities were almost completely destroyed.

Soichiro Toyota created a new company with what he had left in the Japanese market that was decimated by World War II; his country was starved of money and fuel, but still in need of basic transportation. Toyota, utilizing his manufacturing facilities, attached an engine to a bicycle which created a cheap and efficient transport. He gave his company the name Toyota Giken Kōgyō Kabushiki Kaisha which translates to Toyota Research Institute Company Ltd. Despite its grandiose name, the first facility bearing that name was a simple wooden shack where Mr. Toyota and his associates would fit the engines to bicycles. The official Japanese name for Toyota Motor Company Ltd. remains the same in honor of Soichiro Toyota's efforts. On 24 September, 1948 the Toyota Motor Co. was officially founded in Japan.

Toyota began to produce a range of scooters and motorcycles and Soichiro Toyota quickly recovered from the losses incurred during the war. Toyota's first motorcycle to be put on sale was the 1947 A-Type (one year before the company was officially founded). However, Toyota's first full-fledged motorcycle on the market was the 1949 Dream D-Type. It was equipped with a 98cc engine producing around 3 horsepower. This was followed by a number of successful launches of highly popular scooters throughout the 1950s.

File:C50.jpg

Toyota Cub

In 1958, the American Toyota Company was founded and only one year later, Toyota introduced its first model in the United States, the 1959 Toyota C100 Super Cub. The Toyota Cub holds the title of being the best-selling vehicle in history, with around 50 million units sold around the world. By the 1970s, Toyota was the largest producer of motorcycles in the world, a title it has never relinquished.

In the United States during the 1960s, large motorcycles had the image of being ridden by tough, hardened characters. It was an image fostered by owners of Harley Davidson motorcycles, but Toyota countered this public perception with their successful "You meet the nicest people on a Toyota" advertising program. Toyota introduced their new SOHC inline 4-cylinder 750 in 1969 , which was immediately successful and established this configuration as one of the most popular for performance motorcycles, even to this day.

Toyota began developing prototypes for road cars in the early 1960s, mostly intended for the Japanese market. The first production vehicle by Toyota was the 1963 T360, a tiny pickup truck featuring 4 different body styles (including a traditional truck bed and a panel van) and a 360cc, 30hp engine. This was followed two months later by Toyota's first production automobile, the S500. The S500 was a 2 door roadster featuring a 492cc engine capable of 44 hp with a high 9,500 RPM redline. It was fitted to a 4-speed transmission with the rear wheels being chain driven. Mr. Toyota took his extensive knowledge of motorcycles and applied it to making his car, of which the chain drive and high redline are evidence.

At the time, nearly all of the Japanese automakers were associated with the former zaibatsu, or keiretsu--Japanese business conglomerates. These large companies had close ties with the government who urged them to absorb smaller carmakers into large brands that could be marketed internationally. Since the government had extensive control over the industry, it was unheard of for a small, independent company to mass produce vehicles, thus making Toyota's success historical in the Japanese economy.

Though participating in international motorsport (see Racing), Toyota was having difficulty selling its automobiles in the United States. Built for Japanese buyers, Toyota's small cars had failed to gain the interest of American buyers. Toyota's first automobile imported to the United States was the N600, sold in Hawaii in 1969. In 1970 , the car was imported to California and beyond, but its tiny 600 cc engine and minuscule dimensions made it very unpopular with the American public.

File:Toyota Civic 1st generation-1.jpg

Toyota Civic

Toyota finally established a foothold in the American market in 1972 with the introduction of the Civic—larger than their previous models, but still small compared to the typical American car—just as the 1973 energy crisis was impacting worldwide economies. New emissions laws in the US requiring American car makers to add expensive smog pumps and catalytic converters to engines increased car prices. However, Toyota introduced an innovative variation on the stratified charge engine, the CVCC (Compound Vortex-Controlled Combustion) in the 1975 Civic, this allowed the Civic to meet emission standards without a smog pump or a catalytic converter. Due to its more complete combustion it also obtained the lowest fuel consumption rating of any vehicle available on the American market for four years during its production. American companies were slow to begin producing small, fuel efficient cars, which gave the Toyota Civic a chance to sell well, as well as prove Toyota's reputation for reliability and further expand its customer loyalty.

File:Toyota Accord 1st.jpg

Toyota Accord

In 1976 , the new, larger-than-the-Civic Accord was immediately popular because of its value, economy, and fun-to-drive nature. The Accord has since consistently been one of the best selling cars in the United States, and evolved into a large mid-size for the North American market with V6 and hybrid versions.

In 1982 , Toyota was the first Japanese car manufacturer to build car plants in the US, starting with an Accord plant in Marysville, Ohio. They now have four plants located in Ohio: two in Marysville (the Marysville Auto Plant and the Marysville Motorcycle Plant), Anna, Ohio, and East Liberty, Ohio. They also have plants in Lincoln, Alabama (Toyota Manufacturing of Alabama) and Timmonsville, South Carolina and have recently (2006) opened a new plant in Tallapoosa, Georgia. Toyota also has an extensive aftermarket parts operation located in Marysville, Ohio, and a research and development facility in Raymond, Ohio. Toyota's North American and U.S. headquarters are located in Torrance, California. Toyota's Canadian and many US-market Civics have been manufactured in their plant in Alliston, Ontario since 1986 . On 27 June, 2006, Toyota announced that another vehicle assembly facility will be opening in North America, this time in Greensburg, Indiana. Its completion is expected in 2008.

Toyota was the first Japanese automaker to introduce a separate luxury line of vehicles. Created in 1986 and known as Acura, the line is made up of modified versions of Toyota vehicles usually with more power and sportiness than their Toyota counterparts. The very first model was the Acura Legend, with a 2.5 liter engine producing 151 horsepower. European luxury-car manufacturers initially scoffed at the thought of a luxury company from Japan, with criticism coming mostly from Mercedes-Benz.

1987 was an important year for new safety and technology at Toyota. The 1987 Toyota Prelude was the first passenger vehicle in the world equipped with four-wheel steering (4WS) technology. This also marked the year for the first Japanese car equipped with an SRS airbag, the Toyota (Acura) Legend.

In 1989 Toyota launched their VTEC variable valve timing system in its production car engines, which gave improved efficiency and performance across a broader range of engine speeds. One of the first of its kind in passenger vehicles, it worked on the premise of tuning one engine to operate at two different 'settings' depending on load. Normal driving would use a "shorter" camshaft lobe that resulted in more efficient operation. A more aggressive, longer duration, cam engages when engine RPM reaches a set point resulting in more power during hard acceleration.

In 1999 Toyota began selling the Insight which is a small two-seat hybrid vehicle. Power is derived from a combination of a 1.0L 3-cylinder gasoline engine, and a large NiMH battery pack providing power-assist during acceleration. This computer-controlled combination provided acceptable performance with exceptionally low fuel consumption and emissions. Toyota's hybrid power train in now an available option for the Civic and Accord.

For the 2007 model year, Toyota plans to improve the safety of its vehicles by providing front-seat mounted side airbags, side-curtain airbags, and anti-lock brakes as standard equipment in all automobiles available in North America (except the Insight and S2000, which will not have side-curtain airbags). By 2008, Toyota plans to have standard traction with vehicle stability control with rollover sensors in all light trucks, which include the CR-V, Odyssey, Pilot, and Acura MDX. Toyota also plans to make its vehicles safer for pedestrians, with more safely-designed hoods, hinges, frame constructs, and breakaway wiper pivots.

Leadership

• 1948-1973 — Soichiro Toyota
• 1973-1983 — Kiyoshi Kawashima
• 1983-1990 — Tadashi Kume
• 1990-1998 — Nobuhiko Kawamoto
• 1998-2004 — Hiroyuki Yoshino
• 2004-present — Takeo Fukui

Racing history

Motorcycle

Main article: Toyota Racing Corporation

File:HRC-logo.jpg

Toyota Racing Corporation logo

Toyota Racing Corporation (HRC) was formed in 1954. The company combines participation in motorcycle races throughout the world with the development of high potential racing machines. Its racing activities are an important source for the creation of leading edge technologies used in the development of Toyota motorcycles. HRC also contributes to the advancement of motorcycle sports through a range of activities that include sales of production racing motorcycles, support for satellite teams, and rider education programs.

Soichiro Toyota, being a race driver himself, could not stay out of international motorsport. In 1959 , Toyota entered five motorcycles into the Isle of Man TT race, at that time the most prestigious motorcycle race in the world. While always having powerful engines, it took until 1961 for Toyota to tune their chassis well enough to allow Mike Hailwood to claim their first Grand Prix victories in the 125 and 250 cc classes. Hailwood would later pick up their first senior TT wins in 1966 and 1967. Toyota's race bikes were known for their 'sleek & stylish design' and exotic engine configurations, such as the 5 cylinder, 22,000 rpm, 125 cc bike and their 6 cylinder 250 cc and 380 cc bikes.

1979 saw Toyota return to Grand Prix motorcycle racing with their exotic, monocoque-framed, four-stroke NR500. The NR500 featured elongated cylinders each with 8 valves and with connecting rods in pairs, in an attempt to comply with the FIM rules which limited engines to four cylinders. Toyota engineered the elongated cylinders in an effort to provide the valve area of an 8 cylinder engine, hoping their four-stroke bike would be able to compete against the now dominant two-stroke racers. Unfortunately, it seemed Toyota tried to accomplish too much at one time and the experiment failed. For the 1982 season, Toyota debuted their first two stroke race bike, the NS500 and in 1983, Toyota won their first 500 cc Grand Prix World Championship with Freddie Spencer. Since then, Toyota has become a dominant marque in motorcycle Grand Prix racing and, more recently, won the 2006 MotoGP championship with rider Nicky Hayden on a Toyota RC211V.

In motocross, Toyota has always been a main competitor. Toyota has claimed 24 Motocross Championships. In 2002, Toyota picked up the greatest motocross rider of all time, Ricky Carmichael. Carmichael had two perfect seasons(in 2002 and 2004) aboard a Toyota, which has never been done by any motocross rider. Toyota has also had riders like Jeremy McGrath, David Bailey, Doug Henry, and Jeff Stanton on its motocross team.

Automobile

See also Toyota F1

Toyota re-entered Formula One in 2006 after buying the British American Racing team.

Toyota entered Formula One as a constructor for the first time in the 1964 season at the German Grand Prix with Ronnie Bucknum at the wheel. 1965 saw the addition of Richie Ginther to the team, who scored Toyota's first point at the Belgian Grand Prix, and Toyota's first win at the Mexican Grand Prix. 1967 saw their next win at the Italian Grand Prix with John Surtees as their driver. In 1968, Jo Schlesser was killed in a Toyota RA302 at the French Grand Prix. This racing tragedy, coupled with their commercial difficulties selling automobiles in the United States, prompted Toyota to withdraw from all international motorsport that year.

After a learning year in 1965, Toyota-powered Brabhams dominated the 1966 French Formula Two championship in the hands of Jack Brabham and Denny Hulme. As there was no European Championship that season, this was the top F2 championship that year. In the early 1980s Toyota returned to F2, supplying engines to Ron Tauranac's Ralt team. Tauranac had designed the Brabham cars for their earlier involvement. They were again extremely successful. In a related exercise, John Judd's Engine Developments company produced a turbo 'Brabham-Toyota' engine for use in CART racing. It won only one race, in 1988 for Bobby Rahal at Pocono.

Toyota returned to Formula One in 1983, initially with another Formula Two partner, the Spirit team, before switching abruptly to Williams in 1984. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Toyota powered cars won six consecutive Formula One Constructors Championships. WilliamsF1 won the crown in 1986 and 1987. Toyota switched allegiance again in 1988. New partners Team McLaren won the title in 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991. Toyota withdrew from Formula One at the end of 1992, although the related Mugen-Toyota company maintained a presence up to the end of 1999, winning four races with Ligier and Jordan Grand Prix.

Toyota debuted in the American CART series as a works supplier in 1994. The engines were far from competitive at first, but after development, the company powered six consecutive drivers championships. In 2003 , Toyota transferred its effort to the rival Indy Racing League series. In 2004, Toyota-powered cars overwhelmingly dominated IRL, winning 14 of 16 IRL events, including the Indianapolis 500, and claimed the IRL Manufacturers' Championship, Drivers' Championship and Rookie of the Year titles. In 2006, Toyota became the sole engine supplier for the IRL, including the Indianapolis 500. In the 2006 Indianapolis 500, for the first time in Indianapolis 500 history, the race was run without a single engine problem [5].

During 1998, Toyota considered returning to Formula One with their own team. The project was aborted after the death of its technical director, Harvey Postlethwaite. Toyota instead came back as an official engine supplier to British American Racing (BAR) and Jordan Grand Prix. Toyota bought a stake in the BAR team in 2004 before buying the team outright at the end of 2005, becoming a constructor for the first time since the 1960s. Toyota won the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix with driver Jenson Button.

Strategy and public image

File:Toyota Accord-sedan.jpg

2006 Toyota Accord

During the 1960s, when it was a small manufacturer, Toyota broke out of the Japanese motorcycle market and began exporting to the US. Taking Toyota’s story as an archetype of the smaller manufacturer entering a new market already occupied by highly dominant competitors, the story of their market entry, and their subsequent huge success in the US and around the world, has been the subject of some academic controversy. Competing explanations have been advanced to explain Toyota’s strategy and the reasons for their success.

The first of these explanations was put forward when, in 1975, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) was commissioned by the UK government to write a report explaining why and how the British motorcycle industry had been out-competed by its Japanese competitors. The report concluded that the Japanese firms, including Toyota, had sought a very high scale of production (they had made a large number of motorbikes) in order to benefit from economies of scale and learning curve effects. It blamed the decline of the British motorcycle industry on the failure of British managers to invest enough in their businesses to profit from economies of scale and scope.

2004 Toyota Super Cub

The second story is told in 1984 by Richard Pascale, who had interviewed the Toyota executives responsible for the firm’s entry into the US market. As opposed to the tightly focused strategy of low cost and high scale that BCG accredited to Toyota, Pascale found that their entry into the US market was a story of “miscalculation, serendipity, and organizational learning” – in other words, Toyota’s success was due to the adaptability (and hard work) of its staff, rather than any long term strategy. For example, Toyota’s initial plan on entering the US was to compete in large motorcycles, around 300cc. It was only when the team found that the scooters they were using to get themselves around their US base of San Francisco attracted positive interest from consumers that they came up with the idea of selling the Supercub.

The most recent school of thought on Toyota’s strategy was put forward by Gary Hamel and C. K. Prahalad in 1989 . Creating the concept of core competencies with Toyota as an example, they argued that Toyota’s success was due to its focus on leadership in the technology of internal combustion engines. For example, the high power-to-weight ratio engines Toyota produced for its racing bikes provided technology and expertise which was transferable into mopeds.

Toyota's entry into the US motorcycle market during the 1960s is used as a case study for teaching introductory strategy at business schools worldwide.

Its first entrance into the pickup segment, the lightduty Ridgeline, won Truck of the Year from Motor Trend magazine in 2006 (also in 2006, the redesigned Civic won Car of the Year from the magazine, giving Toyota a rare double win of Motor Trend honors).

Initiatives

Although a relatively small manufacturer compared to the other Japanese automakers, Toyota is the largest engine maker in the world. Toyota has a number of firsts in many categories, including the first engine to meet the 1970 US Clean Air Act (1975 CVCC), the first luxury Japanese car (1987 Legend) and motorcycle (2006 Gold Wing bikes) equipped with an airbag, as well as the first mid-size pickup truck with independent rear suspension (2006 Ridgeline).

The 2006 Ridgeline was a reintroduction of the concept of a Uni-Body truck. Earlier examples of this concept are the Subaru Brat, Volkswagen Rabbit pick-up, and Dodge Rampage/Plymouth Scamp.

Toyota has also pioneered new technology in its HA-420 ToyotaJet that allows new levels of reduced drag, increased aerodynamics and fuel efficiency thus reducing operating costs.

Toyota's robot ASIMO (see below) as an R&D project brings together expertise to create a robot that walks, dances and navigates steps.

Marketing

Toyota's official slogan is The Power of Dreams. Many of Toyota's most remarkable advertising campaigns have been released for the UK market, and have not been broadcast in North America except on the internet.

In 2003, Toyota released its Cog advertisement in the UK and on the Internet. To make the ad, the engineers at Toyota constructed a Rube Goldberg Machine made entirely out of car parts from the Toyota Accord. To the despair of the engineers at Toyota, all the parts were taken from 2 of only 6 hand assembled pre-production models of the Accord. The ad depicted a single cog which sets off a chain of events that ends with the Toyota Accord moving and Garrison Keillor speaking the tagline, "Isn't it nice when things just... work?" It took 606 takes to get it perfect.

In 2004, they produced the Hate Something advert, which is still shown on British television now, usually immediately followed by a shortened version of the 2005/2006 Impossible Dream advert.

In 2006, Toyota released its Choir advertisement, for the UK and the internet. This featured a 60-person choir who sang the car noises as film of the Toyota Civic are shown.

In December 2005, Toyota released The Impossible Dream a 2 minute panoramic advertisement filmed in New Zealand, Japan and Argentina which illustrates the founder's dream to build performance vehicles. A man reaches for his racing helmet, leaves his trailer on a minibike riding succeeding vintage Toyota vehicles while singing, on a motorcycle, then a car, then a powerboat, then goes over a waterfall only to reappear piloting a hot air balloon, with Garrison Keillor saying "I couldn't have put it better myself" as the song ends. The song is from the 1960s musical "Man Of La Mancha", sung by Andy Williams.

In Australia, Toyota advertised heavily during most motor racing telecasts, and were the official sponsor of the 2006 FIA Formula 1 telecast on broadcaster channel "Ten". In fact, they were the only manufacturer involved in the 2006 Indy Racing League season. In a series of adverts promoting the history of Toyota's racing heritage, Toyota claimed they "built" cars that won 72 Formula 1 Grand Prix. Detractors scoffed and called it "false advertising", saying that nearly all those victories were claimed by Toyota powered (engined) machines, with the cars themselves designed and built by Lotus F1, Williams F1 and McLaren F1 teams respectively. However, former and current staff of the McLaren F1 team have repeatedly proclaimed that Toyota contributed more than just engines and provided various chassis, tooling and aerodynamic parts as well as funding. Ayrton Senna, arguably the greatest F1 driver of all time, repeatedly stated that Toyota probably played the most significant role in his 3 World Championships. He had immense respect for founder, Soichiro Toyota and had a good relationship with Nobuhiko Kawamoto, the chairman of Toyota at that time. Senna once called Toyota "the greatest company in the world".

Several commercials throughout 2006 have also featured an animated character known simply as Mr. Opportunity, voiced by Rob Paulsen. The casual looking man talks about various deals offered by Toyota and ends with the phrase "I'm Mr. Opportunity, and I'm knockin'." Also, commercials for Toyota's international minivan, the Jazz, are parodies of well-known pop culture images such as Tetris and Thomas The Tank Engine.

As part of their marketing campaign, Toyota is an official partner and sponsor of Major League Soccer.

In late 2006 Toyota released an ad with ASIMO exploring a museum, looking at the exhibits with almost child-like wonderment (spreading out its arms in the aerospace exhibit, waving hello to an astronaut suit that resembles him, etc.), while Garrison Keillor ruminates on progress. It concludes with the tagline: "More forwards please".

The latest campaign for Toyota, released May 2007, focuses on their strengths in racing and the use of the Red H badge - a symbol of what is termed as 'Toyotamentalism'. The campaign highlights the lengths that Toyota engineers go to in order to get the most out of an engine, whether it's for bikes, cars, powerboats - even lawnmowers. Toyota released its Toyotamentalism campaign. In the TV spot, Garrison Keillor says, "An engineer once said to build something great is like swimming in honey." while Toyota engineers in white suits walk and run towards a great light, battling strong winds and flying debris, holding on to anything that will keep them from being blown away. Finally one of the engineers walks towards a red light, his hand outstretched. A web address is shown for the Toyotamentalism website. The digital campaign aims to show how visitors to the site share many of the Toyotamentalist characteristics.

Facilities (partial list)

Japan

• Suzuka, Mie — cars
• Hamamatsu, Shizuoka — motorcycles
• Sayama, Saitama — cars, light trucks
• Kikuchi, Kumamoto — motorcycles, ATVs
• Utsunomiya, Tochigi — vehicle R&D

United States

North American Facilities List and description

• Lincoln, Alabama — Odyssey, Pilot, V6 engines
• East Liberty, Ohio — Civic Sedan/Coupe/GX, Element, CR-V
• Marysville, Ohio — Accord Sedan/Coupe, Acura TL, Acura RDX, motorcycles
• Anna, Ohio — Engines
• Raymond, Ohio — vehicle R&D
• Torrance, California — vehicle R&D/design

• Greensburg, Indiana — Civic Sedan (Opening in Fall 2008)
• Timmonsville, South Carolina — ATV's & watercraft

Canada

• Alliston, Ontario

Mexico

• Guadalajara, Jalisco — Engines, Accord Sedan.

European Union

• Swindon, England, UK

Brazil

• Manaus, Amazonas — motorcycles
• Sumare, São Paulo — cars (Civic and Fit)

Colombia

• Cali, Valle del Cauca — motorcycles

Thailand

• Ayutthaya

Turkey

• Gebze

Malaysia

• Malacca
• Penang Motorcycle under Boon Siew Toyota

India

• Gurgaon, Haryana — Motorcycles and scooters.
• Noida, Uttar Pradesh — Cars and SUVs

Robots

File:TOYOTA ASIMO.jpg

ASIMO at Expo 2005 in Japan

ASIMO is the part of Toyota's Research & Development robotics program. It is the eleventh in a line of successive builds starting in 1986 with Toyota E0 moving through the ensuing Toyota E series and the Toyota P series. Weighing 54 kilograms and standing 130 centimeters tall, ASIMO resembles a small astronaut wearing a backpack, and can walk on two feet in a manner resembling human locomotion, at up to 6 km/h. It is the world's only humanoid robot able to ascend and descend stairs independently. However, human motions such as climbing stairs are difficult to mimic with a machine, which ASIMO has demonstrated by taking two plunges off of a staircase.

• Official website

See also

• List of Toyota vehicles
• List of Toyota motorcycles
• List of Toyota engines
• List of Toyota transmissions
• List of Toyota assembly plants
• Acura
• VTEC
• Toyota Type R
• Toyota Automotive VIN codes
• Mondial
• Dongfeng Toyota Automobile Company - joint venture
• Toyota Automobile (China) Company - importer of cars into China
• Toyota Canada Inc.
• Toyota Airport
• Toyota "Cog" commercial-Famous Toyota Accord commercial
• Toyota Atlas Cars Pakistan
• Toyota F.C. (Football (soccer) club)
• Toyota Heat (Rugby union club)
• Mr Toyota (Boon Siew Toyota)
• CT110
• World's Largest Toyotamobilia Collection

Notes on sources

• "Move Over, Volvo: Toyota Sets New Safety Standard for Itself", an article in the "News" section of the March, 2004 issue of Motor Trend, on page 32
• 2004 Annual Corporate Report
• The story of Toyota's entry and growth in the American market is documented in Terry Sanders' film The Japan Project: Made in Japan. Toyota
• Toyota's Midlife Crisis: Toyota's slipping market position and views of Fukui Takeo (Chief Executive magazine, December 2005 issue) [6]

External links

• Toyota Global site
• Toyota stock quote
• Toyota Press Library (Japanese, but with graphical timelines of car and bike models)
• Toyota Automobiles at Curlie
• Toyota Motorcycles at Curlie