What do you value the most when looking at a car? Power, speed, luxury style, or reliability? The ideal car offers all these characteristics. But what if a car has all this except reliability? A beautiful, powerful car is nothing if it’s not reliable. Toyota knows this so well. So we’re looking at why Toyotas have been so popular in the past and present.
Why is Toyota so popular?
The Japanese are known for being conservative in the very best sense of the word. Toyota carries this quality at the company’s heart, both in business and technology. It’s one of the secrets behind how they’ve built a reliable, durable car for Toyota. Delivering practicality has been their highest priority, far more important than speed. That’s why they approach innovation very conservatively and thoughtfully.
Some might think they’re slow to innovate but prefer to refine and make small changes over time rather than make a dramatic leap in untested technology. To that end, Toyota studies trend in consumer needs. In other words, they explore features or functions that consumers would find practical and valuable. Then they look for ways to improve these features or functions. You could say it’s a practical approach to practicality.
If the company doubts the practicality of a new feature or is unsure it can withstand the test of time, it will conduct further research.
- Toyota makes shock absorbers two millimeters thicker than in most other countries.
- Toyota cars usually have tires with thicker sidewalls for those drivers who drive over curves.
- Toyota spends the time to understand the market need and then modify the parts to meet the market need so you can appreciate how Toyota’s attention to detail pays off.
Toyota’s second secret to popularity is Judoka. It’s a Japanese word that means automation with a human touch. It has an incredible impact on why Toyota cars rarely fail. To explain this, You need to understand what most other carmakers do: automating the entire car-making process. But Toyota’s secret is that they do the very opposite.
- Toyota engineers first design, hand build, and hand assemble all parts. They put it through an automated process only after they’ve refined it.
What does that achieve? This guarantees that every part of a Toyota car is nearly perfect. Then Toyota replicates it and reuses the parts across many different car models. Toyota models often share the same engines and gearboxes because it’s tried, tested, and true. Everything fits and works perfectly.
Here are some reasons for the popularity of Toyota:
Wide Range of Models: Toyota offers a diverse lineup of vehicles that cater to various segments and customer needs. Toyota provides options for lifestyles, preferences, and budgets, from compact cars like the Corolla and Camry to SUVs like the RAV4 and Highlander. The extensive model range allows Toyota to reach a broad customer base and meet various market demands.
Fuel Efficiency: Toyota has been at the forefront of developing and promoting fuel-efficient vehicles. The company has made significant strides in hybrid technology with its popular Prius model and has expanded its hybrid offerings across its lineup. Toyota’s commitment to fuel efficiency appeals to environmentally conscious consumers and those seeking to reduce fuel consumption.
Safety Features and Technology: Toyota prioritizes safety and equips its vehicles with advanced safety features. Many Toyota models have safety technologies such as collision avoidance systems, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, and automatic emergency braking. This focus on safety provides peace of mind to buyers and contributes to Toyota’s popularity.
Long-Standing Reputation: Toyota has a long history and a reputation for delivering reliable, practical, and value-driven vehicles. This reputation has been built over many years of consistent quality and customer satisfaction. The longevity and positive brand image have helped Toyota establish a loyal customer base and attract new buyers.
Global Presence and Manufacturing: Toyota is one of the largest automotive manufacturers globally, with a widespread presence in various markets. The company’s manufacturing facilities are strategically located worldwide, allowing Toyota to produce vehicles locally and cater to regional market demands. This global reach has contributed to the popularity of Toyota vehicles in many countries.
Resale Value: Toyota vehicles hold their value well, making them attractive to buyers considering long-term ownership and potential resale value. The strong resale value reflects Toyota vehicles’ overall quality, reliability, and desirability.
These factors, combined with Toyota’s focus on innovation, customer satisfaction, and practicality, have made Toyota a popular and trusted brand among car buyers worldwide.
How did Toyota become so popular?
Toyota applies its production system that focuses on delivering products on time and drilling a workforce with the mentality of continuous improvement. Most people want to get to where they want to be on time reliably, and this is where Toyota comes in. It is a brand that has cemented its name beside the word reliability and boasts such expertise in manufacturing products with the production processes.
Reliability
Toyota has built a strong reputation for producing reliable and high-quality vehicles. It is excellent for short and long-distance travel, and as many owners would tell you, it requires very little service unless you are stuck. Toyota has been so popular for many years that many of the garages in the industrial area have been accustomed to dealing with it and making the process a lot easier.
Manual testing and improvement
Any Toyota employee can stop a production line regardless of title or position. If they see an improvement that can be made or a problem that must be fixed, the team works together to find and implement the best solution. It is the whole Toyota production system.
Managers, employees, and even ordinary workers on an assembly line are instructed, trained, and encouraged to focus not on production, volume, or early delivery but on production quality. It ensures that Toyota cars are problem-free before leaving the factory, providing increased reliability on the road.
Offroad capabilities
For many years, driving on unpaved roads has been a part of the daily commute in Qatar. Families rent out modern-day desert camps for the entire winter season. Therefore, Toyota, with incredible offroad capabilities, can come in handy.
History of Toyota
In 1958, Toyota began to export its first car to America, the crown and utility vehicle, the Land Cruiser. The brand was able to ease out a total whomping of 288 sales from that year, including a lonely Land Cruiser. It was too slow guzzle, too much gas, and unstable when traveling on freeways at speed.
In 1961, to pull the plug on the exports, and began developing a product specially designed for American drivers. Four years later, Toyota introduced the Toyota Corona in 1965.
- Toyota had learned from its mistakes and built a quality product.
A mechanic who worked for GM at the time had praised the current, highly noting that GM has never made a car that good, and not even Cadillac came close to matching the Toyota’s workmanship. Sales caught up to its praise.
- So, Toyota became the third best-selling import brand in 1967.
The big change in the automotive marketplace came during the first oil crisis in the early seventies. By the 1980s, Japanese firms led the automotive industry with manufacturing efficiency and physical productivity while demonstrating incredibly high inventory turnover. The simple explanation is that Japanese automotive manufacturers, especially Toyota, are good at producing to meet market demands rather than producing to meet production schedules.
This methodology was eased because Japanese firms offered simpler option packages, eliminating annual model changes and standardizing components across their product range. In contrast, American carmakers often suffered from logistics logjams and endless customization options and updated their models annually for marketing. This approach is a big part of the production system from Toyota. Also, it brings us to Kaizen, a Japanese business philosophy of constant improvement for Toyota.
It’s a mentality shared throughout the group, from the CEO to the day laborer. Everyone has a say in improving the final product, and assembly line workers can stop the entire production line to fix an occurring problem. Therefore, subsequent assemblies are affected. It vastly differs from American production lines, where problems are often fixed after the assembly.
- Toyota spends much longer researching and developing to ensure technology is mature before sending it to the production lines.
Meanwhile, a finely engineered Ferrari product is perceived as the best. It’s not something one would mainly be able to use for, let’s say, a million miles. Mostly, Toyota keeps a simple product line with minimal updates. The brand is known not to introduce too many new features simultaneously and is selective of changes.
Future of Toyota
Toyota understands that consistently delivering high-quality, reliable cars far outweighs and makes up for any short-term losses in production volume. They said their goal wasn’t to turn a sports car into a racing car but rather to build a sports car from a racing car so it could actively compete. So, they took the twin-turbo V6 engine in the Toyota hybrid system, racing faster, giving them a new smooth shape.
Their goal has been to create the next-generation supercar that delivers maximum power and environmental performance through a highly effective EV system and a clean-burning engine.
Toyota group announced that they broke the ground for their woven city. So they’re constructing the world’s first smart city. It’s a project to demonstrate a human-centered approach to community development. Toyota’s moving from an automobile manufacturer to a mobile company, and they’re bringing new technologies to life in a real-world environment.
With automated driving, personal mobility, robotics, and artificial intelligence, the project will provide a range of opportunities for businesses and researchers across the globe. Woven City will have three types of streets intertwined at ground level.
- One is for automated driving, which is faster traffic. A second street is for people with lower speeds and personal mobility devices like scooters, and the third is for pedestrians, the slowest traffic.
There will also be an underground road to transport goods to design the city. Toyota commissioned the Danish architect Bjarke Ingels. His team designed the Google headquarters in Mountain View, California. The woven city will be built from sustainable materials powered by renewable energy, including hydrogen fuel cells and rooftop solar panels.
The idea is that all homes will have robots and sensors to monitor occupants and health. All buildings, vehicles, and people will be connected through a citywide network managed by artificial intelligence. The plan is for the community to sustain about 360 residents initially, including seniors and families with young children and inventors. Then eventually, it will expand to more than 2000 people, including Toyota employees.
The woven city intends to create an environment where technology and innovation can continuously improve human society. So you can see the symbolic side of Kaizen and continuous improvement. Carrying over the idea for the smart city stands on three pillars or themes: it will be human-centered, a living laboratory, and ever-evolving. They’re taking on the challenges of creating a community where people of diverse backgrounds can live together happily.
In other words, a community where all ecosystems that support everyday life are connected via data. They began construction in Japan at Japan’s iconic Mt. Fuji base. So it’ll be interesting to see how it turns out.
Last words
Many aspects of how Toyota approaches its engineering problems have rubbed off its competitors. It is very much a golden age of the automobile. We currently have powertrains reliably putting out over 300 horsepower from almost every automobile manufacturer. Remembering that when Toyota began selling the Corona in the sixties, the Lamborghini Miura was the fastest production car, pushing 345 horsepower.
We can now access the same performance from an engine used in a pickup truck or motors running on electricity alone. Whether you love or hate the brand, Toyota’s reputation of building products that work is something a marketing team cannot achieve.
Their influence on how to make things is a major reason why we enjoy affordable cars, electronics, and gadgets that make our daily lives easier. Before buying your car, please get in touch with the Toyota dealer to know the Toyota’s updated version, parts, and services.
Read more similar topics:
Why Are Japanese Cars So Reliable?
References:
“Toyota Global Sales and Production Secures 90 Percent Level Year-on-Year in FY2021” (Press release). Japan: Toyota Motor Corporation.
“Toyota Annual Report 2021”. Toyota Motor Corporation.
“The Story of Sakichi Toyoda”. Toyota Industries Corporation.
“History Of Toyota.” Toyota.
“Chronological Table 1931–1940”. Toyota Motor Corporation.
Toyota: A History of the First 50 Years. Toyota.
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