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Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Toyota’s roots reach back to automated looms, and its automotive business was already operating years before Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. was established in 1937. These ten milestones trace how a loom-maker developed into a car company—and how its production philosophy took shape over time. The dates and descriptions below follow Toyota’s own historical accounts.
1. Toyota began with looms, not cars
Toyota traces its manufacturing roots to Sakichi Toyoda’s inventions in textile machinery. The automotive operation began inside Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, the loom business founded by Sakichi. That industrial background is central to Toyota’s account of how the company moved into vehicle manufacturing.
2. The automotive business started before Toyota Motor Co.
Toyota dates the creation of its Automotive Division to 1933. The division produced the G1 truck in 1935, while Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. was established in 1937. Toyota’s company profile gives its founding date as August 28, 1937. In other words, automotive work began within the loom company before the separate motor company was founded.
3. The A1 prototype and Model AA were separate milestones
Toyota says it completed the A1 passenger-car test prototype in 1935. Its chronology dates the debut of the Model AA to 1936. The A1 was a prototype; the AA was the subsequent passenger-car model. Calling either one simply “Toyota’s first car” without explaining the distinction can blur two different stages of the company’s early development.
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| Milestone | Date in Toyota’s account | What it was |
|---|---|---|
| A1 | 1935 | Passenger-car test prototype |
| Model AA | 1936 | Passenger car whose debut Toyota dates to that year |
4. Toyota’s first plant was called Koromo
Koromo Plant began operating in 1938. Toyota says the facility is now called Honsha Plant. The original name reflects the plant’s place in Toyota’s early history, before the site acquired the name used today.
5. Just-in-Time appears early in Toyota’s timeline
Toyota dates the launch of its Just-in-Time system to 1938 and connects Kiichiro Toyoda’s approach to the later development of the Toyota Production System (TPS). The date is a useful reminder that Toyota’s production history began alongside its earliest manufacturing operations, rather than appearing only after the company had become a large automaker.
6. Toyota traces TPS to both loom design and automotive production
In Toyota’s account, TPS developed over time from ideas in two parts of its history. Sakichi Toyoda’s automatic loom is described as a root of jidoka—building in the ability to detect a problem and stop—along with an emphasis on reducing waste. Kiichiro Toyoda’s Just-in-Time concept is another root. Toyota presents these as foundations that contributed to a system developed over time, not as a finished method invented in one moment by one person.
7. Toyota’s early history includes a labor dispute
Toyota’s official timeline records a business management crisis and labor dispute in 1950. It also records the establishment of Toyota Motor Sales Co., Ltd. in that year. The timeline establishes these events but provides limited narrative detail, so it does not by itself explain the dispute’s causes or the experiences of the people involved.
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8. Quality and production methods were formalized in later decades
Toyota’s 2025 Integrated Report places the formal adoption of key practices well after the company’s early production milestones. It dates Total Quality Control to 1961 and adoption of the Kanban method to 1963. These milestones show the company’s production approach taking shape across decades, rather than arriving as a single, complete system.
9. Toyota and General Motors established a U.S. joint venture
Toyota’s 2025 Integrated Report lists the establishment of NUMMI, a joint venture with General Motors, in 1984. This is a significant corporate milestone in Toyota’s chronology, though the date alone does not establish the venture’s results or describe employees’ experiences.
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10. The Prius marks a later chapter in the timeline
Toyota’s 2025 Integrated Report dates the Prius launch to 1997. Placing it alongside the earlier milestones shows how Toyota’s history extends from loom inventions and first-generation production ideas to a later vehicle launch. The date identifies a turning point in Toyota’s own chronology; it does not, by itself, establish claims about market impact or technical priority.
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