Book review: The Toyota Leaders

Several manufacturing companies’ founders started out as designers or engineers in the automotive trade. However, the history of the modern-day Toyota is rather different. Up to the mid-20thcentury, Toyota was known for the production of textile parts and machinery.

It was only in 1931 that Kiichiro Toyoda realised that the company’s knowledge can be implemented in the production of engines, the heart of the automobile. That year, Toyoda, seen as the founder of Toyota Motor, produced an experimental 3 kW petrol engine. That put the ball on the roll.

The book covers in great detail the most significant aspects of Toyota’s – and, in some instances, the industry’s – history until only a few years ago.

Read this book if…

If you are interested in Toyota’s early years and how it made the transition into the production of passenger cars and the ups and downs and challenges it has faced.

Also, it gives a wider view on the automotive scene during the 20^th century and how, for instance, Toyota learned from production processes in the USA and improved and applied them in Japan.

The author is known for his reporting on the Japanese auto industry; he has also written The Honda Myth: The Genius and his Wake.

Details:

Title: The Toyota Leaders

Author: Masaaki Sato (translated by Justin Bonsey)

ISBN: 978-1-934287-23-1

Pages: 334 (hardcover)

Available from: Loot.co.za for R172 and Kalahari.com for R181.

Tags: book review, history, industry, Toyota