Toyota, a Japan-based international company, is the largest auto manufacturer in the world in terms of production. In 2009, the company listed seventy separate models sold under the Toyota name, including trucks, vans, coupes, sedans, crossovers, and hybrids. Many of the vehicles are sedans, such as the compact Corolla, the full-size Avalon, the mid-size Camry, and the subcompact Toyota Yaris. Toyota markets several cars under its Scion brand, which is aimed at a younger market, including the Scion xB and tC. Toyota also has a luxury division: Lexus, which markets vehicles such as the Lexus RX crossover and Lexus RS sedan, as well as its own luxury-type vehicles under the Toyota name, such as the Toyota Century. Daihatsu and Hino Motors are also subsidiaries of the Toyota company. As far as pickup trucks are concerned, the mid-size Tacoma is probably its leader in the U.S., though the company tried to originally market subcompact trucks in America unsuccessfully. Toyota has been very involved in racing over the years, as well.

Toyota models are sold under various names in the different countries in which they are present. For example, the vehicles are appropriated to different television sales stores there, such as the Toyopet store and the Netz store. In short, Japan receives the most diversity in models. Toyota's headquarters and many of its manufacturing plants are based in Japan, but it competes with automakers and manufacturers around the world, namely

Toyota began with Sakichi Toyoda's invention of the Model G Automatic Loom in 1924. When an error occurred, the loom would recognize it- a technology still used in Toyota's automobile production today. In 1929, Toyoda sold this technology to provide a sizeable investment in a new automobile production company. Toyoda was the original name of the company, and the "d" was changed to a "t" in 1937 due to the fact that the original name sounded muddy and was more difficult to write in Japanese. It also changed the company's association with its Japanese meaning, "fertile rice paddles," which sounded a little dated for automobile production.

The first Toyota was built in 1936 and was named the Model AA. It was priced lower than Ford or GM cars to better compete. From 1947 on, Toyota's vehicles were known as "Toyopet" models, such as the Toyopet SB lightweight truck and the Toyopet Corona. The name was dropped for the American market, who did not respond well to it, but it continued in other countries until the mid-1960s. Toyota continued its impressive compact sales until the 1990s, when it began to add larger and more luxurious vehicles to the mix such as a full-sized T100 pickup and various SUVS. In 1997, Toyota began selling the Prius (now the part of the Prius family of vehicles) in 1997, which is the best-selling hybrid car in the world. Toyota's most popular models ever built, however, are the Toyota Camry and the Toyota Corolla. The subcompact and compact Corolla cars have been produced since 1966 in over 40 million units, and the mid-size Toyota Camry has been produced since the early 1980s.