Japan is considered the world's largest car manufacturer and exporter as the home of six of the top ten car manufacturers worldwide. The Japanese began building cars around the early 1900s through zaibatsu or conglomerates and began to gain popularity around the world by the 1960s because of their availability and reliability. Popular Japanese car brands are Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi.
Toyota
Founded in 1937, Toyota Motor Corporation was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda, son of Toyota Industries founder Sakici Toyoda. The company was specially created for the production of cars and turned into a multinational corporation with large and small holdings in other automotive companies with 522 subsidiaries. Today, Toyota is the largest car manufacturer in the world, which also includes the Lexus brand for its luxury car line, and the Scion brand is aimed at the Y generation market.
The long list of Toyota car models includes:
- Toyota Crown - the first model to be introduced to the US market in 1957
- Toyota Corolla - a compact car, which in 1997 was named the best-selling in the world
- The Toyota Camry is originally a compact car, it became a mid-size car with a coupe and a convertible and with a line of its own, like the Camry Solara, by 1999
- Toyota Prius - the first serial hybrid electric car in 1997 and sold worldwide by 2001
- Toyota Auris - compact hatchback, available in 3 doors and 5 doors
- Toyota 4Runner - SUV, introduced in 1984 as a compact SUV, but has since been developed. It is also called the Toyota Hilux Surf in Japan.
As the fifth largest car manufacturer in the world, Honda Motor Company Limited merged in 1948 as a small manufacturing company and launched its first car in 1963, when the company initially focused on motorcycles. He made the first Japanese luxury car Legend in 1985. Honda is known for producing the most fuel efficient vehicles, and now it offers the FCX Clarity, which is considered more efficient than hybrid cars because it runs on hydrogen fuel, a cell.
Other models of Honda cars include:
- Honda Civic - a compact car, released in 1972 as a two-door coupe, it turned into a sedan and hybrid
- Honda Accord - presented as a compact hatchback in 1976, which now includes a coupe and sedan
- Honda CR-V - compact SUV crossover, released since 1996
- Honda Element - compact SUV crossover, introduced in 2003
These are just two examples of the quality of the Japanese automotive industry and the Japanese auto industry.
