TOYOTA

Toyota cars

The Japanese Automobile Corporation Toyota Motor Corporation was founded in 1937 by Kaïichiro Toyoi. The company name is derived from the name of the creator. It was decided to change the spelling from “Toyoda” to “Toyota”, because this word, written in katakana (Japanese syllable alphabet), has 8 lines. The Japanese number 8 is considered successful.

Toyota Corporation has subsidiaries Daihatsu and Lexus, which produce both low cost cars and premium class. Under the Toyota brand, not only an engineering company is associated, but also financial services. As of 2019, the automaker is ranked 6th according to the Fortune Global 500 rating, where the annual turnover of sales is a decisive factor.

The lineup

All cars manufactured under the Toyota brand are divided into classes:

• small medium;
• average;
• business;
• SUVs;
• coupe;
• minivans;
• commercial cars.

The following models are well known in the world: Corolla, Prius, Camry, RAV4, C-HR, Land Cruiser Prado, Land Cruiser 200, Highlander, Supra, Alphard, Hilux, Fortuner, Avensis and others.

In the ranking of the most popular hybrid cars, the Toyota C-HR Hybrid takes pride of place. This model was the first to overtake the legendary Prius. In 2018, more than 202,000 cars were sold.

The undisputed sales leaders among the global automakers are the Corolla models – more than 900,000 cars sold, and the RAV-4 SUV – about 632,000 cars.

VIN Toyota

On cars manufactured under the Toyota brand, the VIN code is in the following locations:

• in the lower part of the windshield, driver’s side;
• on the bulkhead (top right);
• under the driver’s mat or his seat;
• on the threshold of the driver.

On each machine, the location of the identification cipher may vary. Inexperienced vehicle owners should inspect all listed places (if necessary).

Toyota VIN Specification

Manufacturers are trying to comply with the accepted international standard for the formation of a personal code. But some points are not counted on cars destined for the European market. They lack information on the model year and checksum.

To quickly determine the country of assembly of Toyota, attention is paid to the first 3 positions. The management of the company decided to assign the following WMI (World Manufacturer Identifier) ​​values:

1NK, 1NX, 1T1, 1TE, 4T1-4T4, 4TA, 4X2-4X4, 4X6-4X8, 5TB, 5TD, 5TE, 5TF, 5X0, 5X3, 5YF – USA;
2T1, 2T3 – Canada;
3RZ, 3TM – Mexico;
6FH, 6T1 – Australia;
7A4 – New Zealand;
8AJ – Argentina;
8XA, 8XB – Venezuela;
9BR – Brazil;
9FH – Colombia;
JT1-JT8, JTA-JTG, JTJ-JTN – Japan;
LCU, LFM, LFP, LH1, LTV, LVG – China.

Models of all years on the 11th position of the identification number of the car, have information about the location of the assembly plant:

• ..9 – Japan;
• C – Cambridge (Canada);
• M – Baja, United States;
• S – Princeton, USA;
• U – Georgetown, United States;
• X – San Antonio, USA;
• Z – Fremont, USA.

This does not apply to cars manufactured before 2002 for the European market. For them, the characters 11-17 were assigned to the serial number.

Toyota VIN Check

Safe purchase of a used car means not only a visual inspection, but also a full check of its history. By providing the VIN identifier to specialists, the buyer will be able to verify the cleanliness of the documents, find out the actual number of owners, participation in an accident, the regularity of maintenance and real mileage. Thus, the optimal machine is selected, in which it is not necessary to invest big money for repairs.