Toyota is the largest automobile manufacturer in the world, manufacturing around 9 million vehicles every year. The name Toyota is also the namesake of Toyota, Aichi, which is where the company is headquartered at.
1949–1989 (Japan, main corporate), 1949-present (secondary corporate)[]
In 1949, as a result of the name change to Toyota, they introduced a new symbol, often erroneously called the "Teq" (due to the "トヨタ" katakana resembling said letters), which became the company's primary corporate emblem, until when it was replaced by the 1989 T-oval logo. Even after that logo, the Teq was still used on parts and is still the company's secondary corporate logo, alongside the primary T-oval.
1958–1969[]
Designer:
Unknown
Typography:
Times New Roman Bold
Launched:
1958
In 1958, Toyota expanded into the American market. This logo was seen in TV advertisements for Toyota in the USA during the 1960s.
1969–1978[]
Designer:
Unknown
Typography:
Custom typeface
Launched:
1969
By this point, Toyota's wordmark began to bear, more or less, a resemblance to what it is today.
1977–present[]
Designer:
Robert Overby
Typography:
Custom typeface
Launched:
October 1977
The most familiar wordmark was debuted in Japan in 1977. It adds the Toyota logo on left or on above the wordmark in October 1989 (see the logo and description on bottom).
1989–present[]
Designer:
Masashi Uehara of Nippon Design Center (symbol)
Typography:
Custom typeface
Launched:
October 2, 1989
In 1989, for their 50th anniversary, Toyota decided to create a new unified global symbol: the T-oval. It officially debuted at the 50th anniversary of Toyota on October 2, 1989 with the launch of the 1990 Toyota Celsior (XF10), which is a Japanese domestic market rebadging of the Lexus LS 400, which debuted in the United States in September 1989. This logo also became the new primary corporate logo for Toyota, and the Teq was relegated to being a secondary traditional logo mainly used for heritage merchandise and internal purposes, and is still used on their headquarters building and the flags there. In the U.S., the logo first began appearing on the vehicles themselves during the 1990 model year. It is now the most familiar Toyota logo of all time.
A bolder, 3D version of the logo began to be used in Japan from 2004, Europe from 2005, in the United States from 2006, in Spain from 2010, in Australia from 2011 and internationally from 2014. A bolder badge was first used in July 2004 on the fourth generation Toyota Crown Majesta (S180), and it is still used on most models until present. This logo is used alongside the 1978 wordmark and the 1989 logo. Europe stopped using this logo from July 2020 in favour of a flat 2D logo, which is used internationally (except North America) since 2021.
2019–present (North America)[]
Designer:
Unknown
Typography:
Custom typeface
Launched:
February 2019
This modern, flat logo is currently used in North American advertisements since 2019.
Toyota in Europe started using this flat, 2D logo from July 2020 as part of a brand redesign for the European market. The Toyota wordmark and the slogan "Always a Better Way" was scrapped in this rebrand. It is also used on all Toyota subsidiaries globally since 2021. The new flat badge was introduced in May 2022 with the Toyota bZ4X, and some newer models began to use this badge.
Wikipedia
