Toyota Motor Corporation

Japanese multinational corporation and one of the world's dominant motor vehicle manufacturers. It was founded in 1937 by Kiichiro Toyoda (1894–1952), whose father was the inventor of the automatic loom. In 2007 the company sold 9.366 million vehicles globally, only marginally fewer than the 9.369 million sold by its US rival General Motors, the world's largest manufacturer since 1931.