What did Toyota do right from a small Japanese factory to dominating the world's car king?

Today, Toyota has already spread all over the world. It can be said that Toyota is definitely a global company and the king who dominates the world's cars. But in terms of soul, Toyota is still a local company that started in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Why?

In 1930s, Toyota was an unknown small company in Japan and the world.

At that time, Ford, General Motors and other foreign automakers controlled the Japanese auto market. Japanese consumers are not only curious about cars, but also buying imported cars is popular all over the country. Among them, Ford and Chevrolet urban recreational vehicles equipped with 3000 ml engines rank first in the best-selling cars.

It is in this context that Toyota Automatic Textile Machinery Factory began to prepare for entering the automotive field. Yes, Toyota started from sewing machines and was a new force in making cars at that time.

1930 In March, Toyoda cleaned a corner of the loom factory and began to develop gasoline engines. 1933, Toyota set up an automobile factory. 1In May 1935, Toyota announced the production of the first passenger car A 1,1September 1936, and produced AA cars. 1937, Toyota motor corporation was formally established.

As the founder of Toyota Motor Corporation, Akio Toyoda has a hunch that Japanese car consumption has become more and more mature, and they don't like those cars developed for the American market. For example, in Japan, cars have to drive on narrow roads and park in narrow spaces, which is obviously very different from that in the United States.

AA car is the first example of Toyota integrating the actual needs of Japanese consumers into car design. Since then, American cars such as Ford and Chevrolet supplied to the Japanese market are no longer popular.

Undoubtedly, AA car became the first pioneer in Japan to break the American model, making Toyota realize that localization and customization can make Toyota gain long-term benefits.

History has proved that Toyota's choice is correct. From dominating Japan to competing for the world, local customization has pushed Toyota from its hometown to the global market. This is worth learning and practicing by China car companies.

In Toyota, the status of localization customization is actually very high, that is, product development should first meet the preferences of local consumers, followed by platform sharing and common parts to reduce complexity and control costs. In order to successfully enter the local market, Toyota is very sensitive to the needs of consumers in various countries and regions.

For example, in the 1970s, Toyota began its first attempt to localize Asian cars in countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia. Among them, commercial utility vehicles were put into production in Philippines 1976 and Indonesia 1977.

What are the characteristics of this low-cost multi-purpose commercial utility vehicle? The most outstanding thing is that it has completed the research and design in the local area, and considered many local factors, such as the natural environment, automobile development, driving habits and supplier level in different countries.

For example, in the Middle East, cars need to withstand storms and high temperatures in desert areas. In South Asia, cars also need to cope with the raging floods. At the same time, Toyota also encourages local parts manufacturers to develop locally, thus reducing the import of expensive parts from Japan and boosting the development of the local automobile industry.

Let's look at the European market again. This is the birthplace of cars. There are many brands and all kinds of cars, and they are simply strong hands. Toyota entered Europe very late, so it can be said that it is absolutely weak. In order to survive in Europe, Toyota must develop cars that better meet the needs of European consumers.

1999, Toyota introduced the yaris. Once the car was launched, it immediately catered to European tastes with a Mediterranean-style appearance. Coupled with higher safety and more spacious interior space, it suddenly caught fire and successfully defeated classic models such as Volkswagen Polo, Ford Fiesta and Peugeot 206. Since then, yaris has broken the annual sales record for six consecutive years.

It can be said that yaris's first entry into the European market is like 1936 breaking the AA car monopolized by Ford and Chevrolet in Japan. The secret of yaris's success lies in Toyota's successful localization and customization, which perfectly meets the demand of European consumers for automobiles.

With the same strategy, Toyota has also achieved success in the US market. Let's take a look at the pickup truck market, which is very popular in the United States and the home of the Detroit Big Three.

In America, pickup trucks are very popular. You can go to various activities, play in the wild and go to the construction site. This is a market segment occupied by Detroit Big Three all the year round. Toyota, which is in a weak position, must show some real skills if it wants to make a breakthrough.

The full-size Tondra is a pickup truck designed by Toyota completely for the United States. This car has a brand-new American appearance, and it comes from Americans from design, manufacturing and marketing. To a certain extent, it is Toyota's most "American" product, so it has also achieved great success.

Toyota's localization and customization in various markets around the world has brought greater value to the whole company. Of course, the benefits and challenges brought by localization and customization actually coexist, and geographical diversification and customer diversification increase the complexity of product design and production costs.

Therefore, the success of localization customization depends on the fact that car companies still have cost advantages while meeting localization needs. Toyota obviously has both.

When the automobile industry became a global industry, Toyota began to pursue the universality of localization and globalization. In July 2002, Toyota established the Global Knowledge Center in torrance, California, USA, which is responsible for solving the contradiction between special needs and conventional practices in the process of localization. It transforms the innovation in a specific local market into a global process, thus benefiting the whole company.

Toyota not only pays attention to localization and customization in product development, but also in marketing services.

Traditionally, automobile marketing methods in different countries are not connected with each other. However, under the influence of globalization, the world is becoming more and more "flat" and the automobile market is becoming more and more similar. In the late-developing countries, Toyota adopts the methods that have been practiced in other markets before to improve and upgrade the business level of the late-developing market, no matter where this method comes from. These methods are collated and centrally controlled by Toyota Global Knowledge Center, which can provide innovative methods for every market in the world.

So, how does Toyota promote localization customization in China?

In China, the way for Toyota to accelerate the localization process is not to expand production capacity, but to adopt the idea of structural reform. From the production, sales, R&D and other fields, we will strengthen the system and improve the production capacity in an all-round way, speed up the industrial chain layout and product delivery in the China market, and even propose to learn from China and drive Toyota's speed with China's speed.

In recent years, Toyota's sales in China have maintained a small increase every year, which is due to Toyota's continuous promotion of localization, which is also in line with Toyota's concept of "annual ring management"-to grow steadily step by step in the China market, not only to be an explosive sprinter, but also to be a marathon runner who can run further.

Don't be "chaotic" or "muddy". Everything should be leisurely and slow, which includes the wisdom of Lao Zi's "slowness". Toyota understands this great wisdom, and it is also worth learning and thinking by many China car companies in transition.

Write at the end:

For more than 80 years, Toyota started from a small local company in Yokai, Japan, and integrated the tastes and needs of global consumers into R&D, design, marketing and service, becoming a company combining globalization and localization. Commercial vehicles in Asia, yaris in Europe, Tondra in the United States and other locally customized products have been successful all over the world, which has also helped Toyota to complete the "going out of Japan and producing world cars"

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.