10 fun facts you might not know about Toyota!

You may love your Toyota, but how much do you really know about the company that makes them? We’ve pulled together 10 of the most interesting Toyota Fun Facts we could find, make sure you let us know how many were a surprise to you!

Toyota started as a textiles business

Yep, it’s true! Way back in 1924 Toyota’s original founder Sakichi Toyoda, started up Toyota Automatic Loom Works Ltd to sell the automatic looms he had invented and perfected. The company expanded to include vehicles & engines and is now known as Toyota Industries Corporation.

The first Toyota vehicle was produced in 1936!

The first-ever vehicle produced by Toyota was called the Model AA in 1936 which saw the birth of Toyota Motor Company in 1937!

Toyota was originally called Toyoda

Keeping it in the family, the original company was called “Toyoda” after the founder, Sakichi Toyoda. The spelling was later changed to Toyota as it only took 8 stroked to write it in Japanese, compared to 10 strokes for Toyoda.  Eight is considered to be a lucky number in Japanese culture so hence the name Toyota was chosen.

In Japan, there is a city named after Toyota

In 1959 the Japanese city of Koromo changed its name to Toyota City, after the town’s major employer – Toyota Motor Corporation. How cool is that?

Toyota makes some of the most durable vehicles in the world

Toyota’s are so durable and so reliable that 20 years later – 80% of the cars that were sold back then are still active and on the road today. Impressive!

Toyota was the first motor company to produce over 10 million cars in one year

They achieved this pretty recently back in 2013, goes to show you just how popular Toyota’s are!

Toyota has been the #1 selling auto brand in Australia for 25 years

Yep, 25 years as Australia’s favourite automotive brand, and 18 of those have been in a row having been the #1 selling brand since 2003.

On average a Corolla is sold every 27 seconds globally!

Yep, you read that right! One Corolla is sold globally every 27 seconds! Since 1996, Toyota has manufactured and sold a Corolla every 37 seconds, which reduced to 27 seconds in 2013 – showcasing the absolute popularity of the world’s favourite car. In fact, in 2012 the Corolla had amassed over $40million in sales, making it the best-selling car of all time!

The Land Cruiser is the brand's longest-running series

After more than 70 years since the first one was produced the Toyota LandCruiser is Toyota’s longest-running series and has been in production since 1951. You can read more about the different generations of LandCruisers in our blog series A Trip Down LandCruiser Memory Lane.

Celica was Toyota's first mass-produced sports car!

It commenced production in 1970 and ran through to 2006, and while they're no longer making the Toyota Celica, its still a favorite car among vehicle enthusiasts.