Like so many other Japanese car firms Toyota started making cars quite late in motoring terms, the first car rolled off the production lines in 1935. Mass production was slow to take off for Toyota, steadily growing throughout the 1950's and 1960's. By the mid-60's Toyota were producing over half a million cars per year, mainly for the home market, although cars were now being exported around the world.

By the 1970s and 1980's Toyota was firmly established as a producer of well built, if slightly uninteresting, saloon and four-wheel-drive vehicles. Today Toyota is one of the worlds few independent companies and its cars, particularly the Land-Cruiser, can be seen in most country's throughout the world.