Toyota models

Toyota: from loom-maker roots to a global model family

Toyota’s automotive story grew from the Toyoda family’s industrial machinery business. Kiichiro Toyoda led the move into car development, and the Model AA passenger car appeared in 1936. Toyota Motor Co. was established the following year. The transition from automatic looms to vehicle manufacturing also produced ideas that later became central to Toyota’s identity.

Long-lived model families

After the Second World War, Toyota developed a series of nameplates for very different jobs. Land Cruiser established a durable four-wheel-drive lineage, while the Crown helped build the passenger-car business in the 1950s. Corolla arrived in 1966 and became the enduring compact family. Camry later gave Toyota a major presence among larger saloons. Rather than relying on a single signature vehicle, the brand grew by carrying familiar model names across generations and adapting them for different markets.

Production and hybrid milestones

Manufacturing discipline is as important to Toyota’s identity as any individual car. The Toyota Production System brought together ideas such as just-in-time production and jidoka, or stopping a process when a problem occurs. Those methods influenced how Toyota developed vehicles at scale and became part of the company’s wider industrial legacy.

Hybrid power became another defining thread. Development of the original Prius began in the 1990s under the G21 project, and Toyota launched it in Japan in 1997 as the world’s first mass-produced hybrid passenger vehicle. Later Prius generations refined the concept, while hybrid power spread into established Toyota lines rather than remaining confined to a single specialist model.

Toyota on DriveSize

Today, the range links those different strands: Corolla and Camry continue the mainstream passenger-car story; Prius represents the dedicated hybrid line; RAV4 and Highlander serve the crossover and SUV market; and Land Cruiser retains its separate off-road heritage. DriveSize connects that company history to model-year pages for the 2023 Corolla Sedan, 2023 Prius, 2022 RAV4 and 2021 Land Cruiser. The RAV4 and Honda CR-V guide offers a focused route into one of Toyota’s best-known modern model lines.