Vehicle Lineage Chart

Data: Changes in Toyota Trademarks and Emblems

The following is an outline of changes in Toyota's registered trademarks (hereinafter "trademarks") and emblems over the years.

The earliest trademarks of Toyota

Because the Model G1 Truck and the Model AA were developed at the automobile department of the Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd. (before the department was spun off as Toyota Motor Company), the model names were preceded by the brand name Toyoda.

Toyota mark chosen by public contest (later to become the corporate emblem)

In July 1936, the automobile department of the Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd. (today's Toyota Industries Corporation) celebrated the completion of its first passenger car by holding a public design competition for the Toyoda logo. The event was also intended to reinforce advertising and sales of Toyoda cars. At the selection meeting held on September 25, a design featuring Japanese characters for Toyota surrounded by a circle was chosen among some 27,000 entries sent in from all over Japan.

  • Toyota mark
  • Toyota mark

There were three reasons why "Toyota" was preferred to "Toyoda" in the corporate mark:

  1. 1. In terms of commercial design, Japanese characters for "Toyota" were visually simpler and less cluttered. The name also sounded more pleasant to the ear.
  2. 2. Its eight-stroke count in the Japanese language was associated with wealth and good fortune.
  3. 3. Departure from the Toyoda name also implied the company's growth from a family business into a broader-based social entity.

With the adoption of the Toyota mark, the Model G1 Truck's nickname also changed from Toyoda-go to Toyota-go.

Soon after this design was registered as the trademark of Toyota cars in April 1937, Toyota Motor Company was founded on August 28.

The mark has been used as a corporate emblem to this day.

New Toyota mark and logo

New Toyota mark and logo

On October 2, 1989, the new Toyota mark and logo were introduced.

From then on, the new mark that symbolized the progressiveness and reliability of Toyota was to be attached to all Toyota-brand cars as an emblem.

Its design consists of three ellipses. The inner horizontal and vertical ellipses represent customers' expectations and car manufacturer's ideal, respectively, which are firmly interlocked to form the letter T (for Toyota). The outer ellipse signifies the global expanse of Toyota's advanced technology and its infinite potential for growth.

Toyota considers customer satisfaction as its ultimate goal of car manufacturing. That is why the company puts a special emphasis on advanced R&D and constantly upgrades its quality control and services. The new brand mark is an embodiment of this corporate philosophy. It also serves as a universal symbol mark of Toyota-brand vehicles in Japan and overseas. However, this mark was not the only major brand asset that Toyota gained in 1989 -- the Lexus had made its debut in an overseas market earlier in the year.

The Lexus brand introduced

The Lexus brand mark

Lexus is Toyota's luxury car brand that was first introduced in the U.S. in 1989. Painstaking market research led to solid product planning, and fine-tuned marketing and services assured the success of the Lexus brand.

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