TOYOTA PRODUCES ITS 20,000,000TH MOTOR VEHICLE

The shiny Corona 1800 GL passenger car that rolled off the assembly line of the Tsutsumi Plant in Toyota City shortly after eleven o'clock this morning was Toyota Motor Company's 20,000,000th motor vehicle, making Toyota the first Japanese automaker to reach that production mark.

Forty-one years and two months have passed since Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, the predecessor of Toyota Motor Company, produced Toyota's first motor vehicle, the Model A-1 passenger car, in May 1935. Toyota took 36 years and 8 months from then until January 1972 to produce its 10-millionth vehicle, but took only 4½years from then until July 8, 1976, to produce its 20-millionth vehicle.

Throughout the past forty years Toyota has worked constantly to provide quality products to the public at reasonable prices. It has worked to offset increasing costs in such ways as raising its productivity. One of Toyota's favorite mottos―a motto that hangs in all its plants―is "Good products from good thinking." Based on such thinking, Toyota has contributed greatly over the years not only to the growth of the domestic economy and the spread of motorization but also to world trade and the development of other countries. In recent years Toyota has made particular R & D efforts in the areas of safety and emissions control. Toyota realizes how important it is to have the automobile remain in harmony with the social environment.

Of the 20 million motor vehicles produced up to now, passenger cars (including vans and station wagons) comprised about 78 per cent while trucks and buses comprised about 22 per cent; exports comprised about 30 per cent of the total. Of the passenger cars produced, the Corolla made up about 32 per cent and the Corona about 23 per cent of the total. The attached pages give interesting statistical and historical information related to Toyota's new production mark.

An assembly line ceremony was held to commemorate production of Toyota's 20-millionth vehicle. About 200 guests attended the celebration, including President Eiji Toyoda of Toyota Motor Company and President Seisi Kato of Toyota Motor Sales Company. The Corona 1800 GL rolled off the assembly line shortly after 11:00 a.m.