TOYOTA TO HOLD 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

Toyota City―TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION celebrates its 50th anniversary on November 3, 1987. Founded in 1937 with the aim of establishing an automobile industry in Japan, it started volume production a year later on completion of the Koromo Plant (now the Honsha Plant).
Toyota's production facilities were extensively modernized to allow the development and production of domestic passenger cars in the mid-1950s. The announcement of the Toyopet Crown in 1955 and Toyopet Corona in 1957, along with the completion of the Motomachi plant, Japan's first plant dedicated solely to the production of passenger cars, in 1959, signalled the completion of the first step toward the establishment of a Japanese automobile industry.

One of Toyota's most popular models ever, the Corolla, gained overwhelming popularity in the domestic market after its 1966 unveiling, becoming not only the spark for an automobile boom in Japan, but a driving force in exports as well.

By enhancing sales and service systems, Toyota laid a firm foundation in the domestic market and the announcement of new models one after another to meet the increasingly diversified demands of the market helped to keep the company ahead of the domestic trend in motorization.
Steady progress in exports, global expansion through the establishment of overseas bases and a supply of automobiles that fit the climate and condition of each country helped Toyota reach record accumulated production in Japan―10 million units―by 1972.

Throughout the 1970s, Toyota constantly directed its efforts toward social problems involving automobile safety, exhaust control, and resource and fuel saving. It was also active in social and cultural fields, including traffic safety campaigns, international cultural exchange activities, and the establishment of The Toyota Foundation and the Toyota Technological Institute.

In July 1982, Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. and Toyota Motor Sales Co., Ltd., which split in 1950, merged again into the Toyota Motor Corporation, integrating both production and sales operations. Accumulated production reached 50 million units in 1986. Also, using technologies gained through the automobile business, the company continues to make steady ground in the housing and industrial vehicle markets.

In recent years, Toyota has aggressively developed overseas operations, including NUMMI, a joint venture with GM, and at present production is carried out at 27 plants in 20 countries/regions. Intense preparations are also continuing for the production of passenger cars in the U.S., Canada and Taiwan, and of small trucks in West Germany jointly with VW.

As one of the events to commemorate its 50th anniversary, Toyota will build an automobile museum in Nagakute-cho, Aichi-gun, Aichi Prefecture, the first of its kind in Japan, that will systematically exhibit the 100 years of automobile culture starting with the birth of gasoline-powered cars. Also, to contribute to the local community, the company built the Toyota Memorial Hospital, a general hospital equipped with leading-edge medical equipment, in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, which opened September 15, 1987.

As a part of continuing traffic safety promotion activities, Toyota will produce a video on traffic safety for a young audience and will present some 15,000 copies to prefectural and municipal governments, as well as relevant organizations and groups across the nation.

On Our 50th Anniversary