Against the backdrop of a hyper-appreciated yen, TMC marked the 50th anniversary of its founding on November 3, 1987. At the commemorative ceremony held in a large hall at the Toyota Kaikan Museum at company headquarters, President Shoichiro Toyoda made the following speech:

Toyota was founded in 1937 based on our founder Kiichiro Toyoda's principle of 'making cars utilizing Japanese people's minds and skills' and since then has been striving to make cars that customers love based on the philosophy of 'creating an affluent society through automobiles'.

Over the 40 years following the end of the war, Japan has achieved unprecedented economic growth, of a level never seen before in the world. The automotive industry has amply played the role of the driving force behind this growth. Among the various automakers, Toyota has always been at the forefront of Japan's motorization trends, having, for example, constructed plants dedicated to passenger cars and having built a comprehensive sales network.

As a result, Toyota has grown to be one of the most prominent automakers in the world today.

The environment surrounding the Japanese automobile industry is extremely harsh, exemplified by the recent rapid appreciation of the yen and trade friction, but I am confident that I and all Toyota employees will work in unity to overcome these difficulties and make a great new leap going forward.

On this our 50th anniversary, I am announcing this year's company slogan, 'Unshakable Toyota supported by the unity and full commitment of its employees can make a leap into the next half century.' This means we must take this opportunity to approach our tasks with a fresh perspective, rather than in the same old way, and actively work on achieving daring innovations.

Currently, the Big Three in the United States, as well as automakers in growing economies around the world find themselves in the middle of extremely stiff competition. Toyota is implementing various policies both in Japan and abroad with the ambitious goal of becoming one of the Global 10. In addition to car manufacturing and sales, we are continuing to strengthen our other existing operations, such as industrial vehicles and housing.

Furthermore, we must begin to lay the foundations for Toyota's participation in new business fields in the future. Fortunately, the automobile industry is a general industry that integrates together the technologies of a broad range of fields, including telecommunications, electronics, and new materials. There is no limit to the possibilities of the new business opportunities that will be created in these related fields.

I am convinced that the automobile industry will be able to continue growing on an international scale into the future.

Among the projects created to mark the 50th anniversary, a plan was developed to construct the Toyota Memorial Hospital and Toyota Automobile Museum. As a replacement for the Toyota Hospital, which was beginning to show signs of facility deterioration, and intended as a regional medical center, the Toyota Memorial Hospital was completed in September 1987 in Heiwa-cho, Toyota City as a general hospital equipped with state-of-the-art medical equipment and facilities. The Toyota Automobile Museum, designed to exhibit a broad range of the history of the automobile, was constructed in Nagakute-cho (now Nagakute City), Aichi Prefecture and opened its doors in April 1989. Many prominent historical vehicles collected from around the world, including a unit of Toyota's first commercially sold passenger car "Toyoda AA", which had been restored over a two-year period, were exhibited in drivable condition. A publication entitled "Limitless Creation", chronicling Toyota's 50-year history, was also published to mark the 50th anniversary.