Toyota Logo

Brand History

The Toyota Story

Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. was incorporated on August 28, 1937, as a spin-off from Toyoda Automatic Loom Works. Kiichiro Toyoda had established the loom company's Automotive Department in 1933 and is recognised by Toyota as the founder of Toyota Motor Corporation; Toyoda Automatic Loom Works itself had been established in 1926 by his father, Sakichi Toyoda. Toyota developed the Toyota Production System around the principles of jidoka and Just-in-Time manufacturing, introduced the Corolla in 1966 and launched the first-generation Prius hybrid in Japan in 1997. Toyota Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Sales merged in 1982 to form today's Toyota Motor Corporation.

Logo History

Evolution Of The Toyota Logo

1. 1935–1936

   The G1 truck and AA passenger car were developed before Toyota Motor Co. existed and carried early 'Toyoda' marks, reflecting the founding family's name.

2. 1936–1989

   A public competition attracted about 27,000 entries. The winning circular mark used the Japanese katakana characters for 'Toyota' (トヨタ); the simpler name had eight brush strokes, a number associated with good fortune. It was registered for Toyota cars in April 1937 and remained a corporate emblem.

3. 1989–2020

   Toyota introduced the three-ellipse vehicle emblem on October 2, 1989. The two inner ellipses represent the hearts of the customer and the company and combine to form a 'T'; the outer ellipse represents the world embracing Toyota. This remains the basis of Toyota's vehicle emblem.

4. 2020–present (Europe communications)

   Toyota Motor Europe introduced a flat, two-dimensional emblem without the Toyota wordmark for European communications. Toyota stated that the existing emblem would continue to be used on vehicles, so this was not a worldwide replacement of the physical vehicle badge.

Model Evolution

Toyota Through The Years

8 milestone models from 1936 to 2022.

1936

1951

1955

1966

1967

1982

1997

2022