Toyota Was First to Roll Up U.S.’ Driveway

Forty-two years ago this month, fittingly on Halloween, a Japanese automobile manufacturer played the ultimate trick-or-treat on the U.S. auto industry. Two distinctive compact automobiles trundled down a gangplank at the Port of Long Beach and landed on American soil. The Toyopet Crown became the first Japanese car to be delivered for sale here.

The retail launch was delayed nine months while Toyota won certification to do business from the state of California, but finally, in July 1958, sales began--barely.

In the next six months, through December, Toyopet, a division of Toyota, sold just 287 Crowns in the U.S., said Sam Butto, a spokesman for Toyota Motor Sales USA in Torrance.

That poor start convinced Toyota that its passenger cars were not yet suited to the American market. So the company called off the experiment, set up the skeleton of a U.S. marketing organization and limited its sales efforts to peddling the Land Cruiser, a jeep-like vehicle patterned after Britain’s legendary Land Rover.

Not until 1965, when Toyota USA began importing the Corona, a quality compact vehicle that met with consumer acceptance, did the Japanese passenger car begin securing its lasting place in the American market.

Today, of course, Japan is also represented in the U.S. by Honda, Isuzu, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Suzuki, as well as the luxury nameplates Acura, Infiniti and Lexus. Japanese manufacturers accounted for a 24% share of the U.S. market for new cars and light trucks in 1998.

And Japanese cars aren’t built in just Japan anymore. Toyota alone has manufactured more than 5 million vehicles in the United States.

Trick or treat?

The Japanese bewitching of the U.S. auto industry has proved to be a bit of each. Initially, the imports savaged Detroit’s profit picture, but ultimately they forced U.S. auto makers to produce better cars. So much better, in fact, that American-built autos are now exported to Japan.