Toyota Parts

Need Toyota Parts?

Toyota has been around for over 75 years and in that timespan it has built itself up into an automotive giant and one of the largest companies in the world. The automaker has launched numerous vehicles that have become household names, such as the Toyota Camry and Corolla, and has endeared itself to the world due to its commitment to quality and its customer-focused attitude. At 1A Auto, it is our mission to supply you with the right parts you need to keep your Toyota car, truck or SUV working in tip top shape, at a great discount. Simply put, if you are in need of a replacement part for your Toyota vehicle, you've come to the right place. You'll find a large selection of new, high quality aftermarket Toyota auto parts, including headlights, taillights, weatherstripping, mirrors, door handles, exhaust manifolds, radiators, and more, as well as genuine OEM replacement parts - the very same ones you would receive if purchased from your local dealer, but without the inflated cost. However, we don't only just sell replacement Toyota parts online here at 1A Auto; we also carry a selection of new and performance parts such as high flow air filters and bike racks for your Toyota automobile as well.

Our product development team spends over 8,000 hours a year researching the best Toyota auto parts, and they are carefully selected by our trained engineers so you can rest assured that you are getting the correct, high quality part you need for your car, truck or SUV, at a discount price. If we wouldn't put the part in our own vehicles, we won't sell them to anyone else. A new aftermarket replacement Toyota part from 1A Auto will save you 30-50% on average over a comparable new OEM replacement Toyota part that you would get at a dealership, and our new aftermarket Toyota parts are also extremely durable and reliable. Don't overpay for Toyota parts and save yourself from a lot of potential headaches by shopping at 1A Auto.

You can shop for all of your Toyota car and truck parts online and buy safely and securely right here on our website, or you can call our customer service toll free at 888-844-3393 if you have any questions about any of our parts, or to buy over the phone. With over 150 years combined experience, 1A Auto's customer service representatives are the most qualified to answer your questions about all of our new, aftermarket, genuine OEM, and performance Toyota car and truck parts. Our representatives answer 99.9% of phone calls in less than one minute and emails are responded to within the hour because we know you need answers quickly to get your beloved Toyota back in working order again. We also know you want your part fast for the same reason; 98% of in stock Toyota auto parts ship from our warehouse within one business day so that you can get back on the road in no time, and all ground shipping in the continental U.S. is completely free. And, in the unlikely case that you are unhappy with your Toyota auto part for any reason, 1A Auto also offers the only No Hassle return policy for unused items in the industry. Simply put, our competitors can't beat the 1A Advantage. Don't just take it from us - take it from over 50,000 satisfied customers!

Look no further than 1A Auto for your aftermarket, original equipment (OE) replacement, new and performance Toyota auto parts and get your car, truck or SUV the new parts it needs today from Toyota enthusiasts just like you! If you happen to be an enthusiastic Toyota owner, have a deep passion for Toyota vehicles, or just want to learn more about the automobile manufacturer, continue reading below for a detailed look at the brand's history and some of its past and present models.

Overview

Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) is a multinational automaker founded in Japan in 1937, with its main corporate headquarters currently located in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. It is part of the Toyota Group, a conglomerate whose companies’ work together and mostly share the Toyota brand. In addition to TMC and many other companies, the Toyota Group also consists of Toyota Industries Corporation, the company from which Toyota Motor Corporation developed.

Contents

1. Origin
2. Early Years
3. Expansion
4. Becoming an Automotive Powerhouse
5. Branching Out
6. 2000s
7. Toyota Today

Origin

In 1924, Sakichi Toyoda invented the Type G Toyoda Automatic Loom, a machine that, in 2007, would be registered as item No. 16 in the Mechanical Engineering Heritage of Japan—a list consisting of sites, landmarks, machines, and documents that made significant contributions to the development of mechanical engineering in Japan over the course of time. Toyoda had invented a number of other looms prior to this one, but this allowed the company to open up a plant and establish itself as the Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd. (TALW) as an automatic loom manufacturing company.

Under his son, Kiichiro Toyoda, a department devoted to the production of automobiles within TALW was established. The capital that was needed to start the department was generated in 1929 when TALW sold the patent for the automatic loom to a British company.

In 1935, the first “Toyoda” automobile prototypes—the A1 passenger car and the G1 truck—were completed. In 1936, the first vehicle to be produced and sold to the public was released. It was a passenger car named the Model AA. That same year, the company also ran a public competition to design its logo. The winning entry featured the three Japanese katakana letters for "Toyoda" in a circle; however, the name was changed to a similar word in katakana—“Toyota”. The new name was then trademarked and, in 1937, the new Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. was founded as a separate company from TALW.

Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd. would later go on to become Toyota Industries Corporation and is still in existence today, making various machines and products. It is currently one of the core companies of the Toyota Group, as is Toyota Motor Co., Ltd., which is now known as the Toyota Motor Corporation.

Early Years

Initially, the company was dedicated to the production of very simple trucks for the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. The trucks were designed to use very little in the way of materials. For example, they featured only a single centrally mounted headlight. Following the war, the Japanese government initially limited the production of vehicles, with full production not resuming until 1949, but permitted the building of the Toyota SA prototype. The Toyota SA was unveiled in 1947 and was Toyota’s first new passenger car design following WWII. The nickname “Toyopet” was given to the car following a naming contest Toyota ran in 1947. Following its release, all of Toyota's small-sized vehicles were sold under the Toyopet name, as would other vehicles such as the Toyopet SB light truck—Toyota’s first entry into the pickup truck market—and the Toyopet Stout light truck (initially called the RK).

After being on the brink of bankruptcy in 1949, Toyota nearly went out of business in 1950. One of the many hardships during this difficult period was a labor strike that severely affected production levels. Kiichiro Toyoda ended up resigning from his position as president of the company, and he was succeeded by the chief executive of the Toyoda Automatic Loom company, Taizo Ishida. Kiichiro would pass away a couple of years later in 1952. It was also around this same time that a separate sales company, Toyota Motor Sales Co., was established. It operated as a separate company from Toyota Motor Co. Ltd. until the 1980s.

Demand for military vehicles helped create more business, but this time the demand came from Japan’s one-time enemy, the United States, which Japan was still under the influence of following WWII. The US military ordered a large number of vehicles to use in the Korean War. Another big factor in the revival and growth of the company was the launch of the now famous Toyota Land Cruiser in 1954. A prototype of the Land Cruiser—initially called the Toyota Jeep—was actually developed a few years later. But the vehicle was not selected for procurement by military forces. However, the company did not let the vehicle die and continued to pursue the concept. Eventually Japan’s National Police Agency adopted it as its patrol car, and other governmental agencies and entities followed suit. Toyota later renamed their vehicle the Land Cruiser. The rest is history, as the Land Cruiser continues to be produced to this day.

Expansion

In April 1956, the Toyopet dealer chain was established and, in 1957, it established both its first factory outside Japan in Brazil and its US sales, marketing, and distribution division, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Inc. (TMS), in California. In the late 1960s, Toyota signed a partnership deal with Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd. Daihatsu would go on to release two models in the United States in the late 1980s, the Charade and Rocky, but Daihatsu USA was closed down only a few years later in 1992. Today, Toyota has a majority controlling interest (51.2%) in Daihatsu Motor Ltd., which it acquired in 1999.

Toyota eventually entered the US market in the late 1950s with the Toyopet Crown, which was the first Japanese car exported to the United States. The first prototypes arrived in 1957, with the car going on sale in 1958. The Toyopet was engineered to be used as a taxi on the bumpy roads of post-war Japan, at which it was quite successful. Its exterior was given a distinct American look with lots of chrome. After two years, in 1960 Toyota halted passenger car exports to the United States. The Toyopet name was soon dropped in the US.

Toyota tested the US market again in 1965 with the Toyota Corona, an update to the Crown. The Corona was specifically designed as a small, fuel-efficient vehicle for American drivers. The Corona was the first Toyota in the US to sell more than 10,000 units annually. In 1970, it was named the “Import Car of the Year” by Road Test magazine. The popularity of the Corona paved the way for the Corolla and Camry.

Becoming an Automotive Powerhouse

The Toyota Corolla was first produced in Japan in 1966 and introduced to the US in 1968. By 1974, the vehicle was the best-selling car in the world. By 1982, the Corolla was being sold in 16 countries and, in 1987, Toyota started producing Corolla’s in the US. To date, more than 7 million Corolla’s have been sold in the US and more than 30 million worldwide. The Corolla holds the record as the world’s best-selling automobile of all time.

The company continued to produce other successful vehicles throughout the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. An example was the Toyota Hilux compact pickup truck, which was released in 1968. While most countries have used the name Hilux for the entire life of the series of trucks, it was dropped in North America in 1976 in favor of Truck, Pickup Truck, or Compact Truck. Another successful vehicle was the Toyota Celica coupe. The Celica was introduced in the early 1970s and existed until the early 2000s. A sports car whose styling was derived from the Celica, the Toyota Supra was released in 1978. At first, it was not its own model, and was pre-fixed by the name Celica; it wasn’t until 1986 that it became an official model, separate from the Celica. The car was discontinued in 2002. The Toyota Tercel, another subcompact car, was released in 1978 and was another successful vehicle manufactured by the company. It was discontinued in 2000. The Toyota 4Runner was also introduced during this time, in 1984. While the original 4Runner was a compact SUV and little more than a Toyota pickup truck with a fiberglass shell over the bed, the model has since undergone significant redesigns and is now a cross between a compact and a mid-size SUV.

Where the Corolla is Toyota’s biggest worldwide success, the Camry may be Toyota’s biggest US success. It was introduced in 1983 and four years later became the first Toyota manufactured in a US plant entirely owned by Toyota. The Camry has been a Consumer’s Report “Best Buy” every year since 1986, and has been the best-selling car in the US from 1997 to 2000 and 2002 to 2012. The Camry even competed in the NASCAR Nextel Cup and Busch Series. It was the first international vehicle to do so. Camrys are built in ten countries and sold in 27, and have sold more than 10 million units worldwide. 

Branching Out

To close out the 1980s, Toyota launched the Lexus brand in the United States in 1989 (it wasn’t introduced in Japan until 2005). It has become Japan's largest-seller of premium automobiles.

Late in 1989, Toyota introduced a new worldwide logo. In the 1990s, Toyota began to branch out from the production of predominantly compact cars by adding many larger and more luxurious vehicles to its lineup. One of those vehicles was the Toyota T-100, which was a full-sized pickup. Several lines of SUVs were also introduced as well, like the Toyota RAV4. In 1997, the company launched the Toyota Prius, releasing the world’s first commercially available gas-electric hybrid vehicle. It has won awards from Motor Trend, Car and Driver, and Popular Science.

In addition to the Prius, one of Toyota’s next big US successes was a uniquely American product. The Toyota Tundra was designed in the United States and is produced only in Indiana and Texas. The Toyota Tacoma, which was released in 1995 as the replacement for the Hilux model, and the Toyota T-100 also paved the way for the Tundra’s success. The Tundra was released in 1999, and that same year was named “Truck of the Year” by Motor Trend.

2000s

Some of the more recent models that the company has produced since 2000 include the Toyota Venza mid-size crossover SUV, the Toyota Highlander, which is another mid-size crossover SUV, the Toyota Sequoia full-size crossover SUV, and the Toyota Sienna minivan, just to name a few. In addition, the company established the Scion division in 2002, launching it in the United States in 2003 and ending it in 2016.

Toyota Today

While Toyota has been an international company since 1957 when it built its first plant outside of Japan in Brazil, since then the company has only grown larger and today the company has factories all across the world. Toyota has succeeded in the US, with models like the Corolla, Camry, Tundra, and Prius, specifically modeled to meet the need of American drivers, is just one example of the way that that consumer-centric attitude has lead Toyota to become the world-leading automaker.