Toyota Motors Company was established in 1937. In its more than 80 years of existence, Toyota has grown into a leading automobile brand with a sales network spanning 190 countries. It is one of the leading automobile brands of the world with a large product portfolio that includes sub-compact and compact cars, mini-vehicles, mid-size, luxury, sports and specialty cars, recreational and sport-utility vehicles, pickup trucks, minivans, trucks and buses.
Production network of Toyota:
The production network of Toyota is spread over 27 countries and regions besides Japan and includes more than 50 overseas manufacturing plants. The leading manufacturing facilities of Toyota are located in countries including Japan, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Turkey, Thailand, China, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Argentina and Brazil.
Toyota produces Daihatsu brand vehicles at four factories in Japan and two manufacturing companies in two other countries of Indonesia and Malaysia.
It makes the Hino brand vehicles at four factories in Japan and 11 manufacturing companies in 11 countries, including Indonesia and Thailand. Apart from that, Toyota is also planning to increase its manufacturing bases in the U.S. and Russia.
Domestic production of Toyota grew in 2019 compared to the previous year. In fiscal 2019, Toyota’s consolidated vehicle production reached 4,309 thousand vehicles in
Japan and 4,676 thousand vehicles in its overseas plants, compared to 4,286 thousand vehicles in Japan and 4,678 thousand vehicles in its overseas plants in 2018.
Toyota’s Production Volume by Region 2015-2019
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
| Japan | 4,124,593 | 3,980,576 | 4,109,038 | 4,285,844 | 4,308,903 |
| N. America | 1,932,618 | 1,970,053 | 2,062,862 | 1,902,304 | 1,840,502 |
| Europe | 556,462 | 564,934 | 637,352 | 681,048 | 679,380 |
| Asia | 1,829,048 | 1,605,345 | 1,674,468 | 1,601,473 | 1,681,783 |
| Other | 487,166 | 454,991 | 491,789 | 493,464 | 474,618 |
| Total | 8,929,887 | 8,575,899 | 8,975,509 | 8,964,133 | 8,985,186 |
| Sources: | Toyota Annual report 2019. |
Sales and Distribution Network of Toyota:
The sales and distribution network of Toyota spans 190 countries around the world which means it has one of the most extensive sales and distribution networks in the entire automobile industry. In Japan, Toyota’s domestic market, Toyota has the largest sales and distribution network of all the automobile brands. As of March 2019, 279 dealers were a part of Toyota’s japan sales and distribution network. These 279 dealers employed 32 thousand sales personnel and operated approximately 4.7 thousand sales and service outlets. 13 of these dealerships are owned by Toyota and the rest are owned and operated by independent dealers.
Toyota conducts the sales of Toyota vehicles in Japan four sales channels — “Toyota,” “Toyopet,” “Corolla” and “Netz.” It introduced the Lexus brand to the Japanese market in August 2005, and currently distributes the Lexus brand vehicles through a network of 168 sales outlets. This has helped Toyota improve its competitiveness in the domestic luxury automotive market.
Toyota’s Japanese sales and distribution network has played a major role in its success in its domestic market. However, the company also employs its direct sales network made of salespersons to sell to the consumers directly. These sales personnel visit the customers in their home and offices to sell to customers directly. In 2019, the company merged four dealers that were its wholly owned subsidiaries in Tokyo and renamed the merged company “Toyota Mobility Tokyo Co., Ltd.” (“TMT”). The company also abolished its sales channel in Tokyo where TMT has taken over the distribution of Toyota models. The company is planning to adopt this sales and distribution model in the other parts of the country too.
Outside Japan, there are 169 leading distributors who sell Toyota vehicles in 194 countries and regions. Toyota maintains its global network of dealers through these 169 dealers.
Toyota Number of Distributors by Region
Country/Region Number of Countries Number of Distributors
North America …………………………..3 ……………………… 5
Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 ……………………… 29
China ……………………………………… 1 ………………………….. 4
Asia (excluding China) . . . . . . . . . . . 19 ……………………… 13
Oceania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 15
Middle East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 14
Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 49
Central and South America . . . . . . . . . .30 40