MARCH 19, 2004

Toyota looks to mummy for help

The Toyota Motorsport team has signed a deal to use high-performance machine tools manufactured by Toyoda Mitsui Europe. There is a certain irony in the deal because Toyota grew out of the Toyoda company, which was founded in the 1920s to manufacture automatic weaving machines invented by Sakichi Toyoda. In the mid 1930s Toyoda decided to sell his rights to the weaving machine business in order to raise capital to allow the family to expand into new businesses, handing the empire on to his son Kiichiro. It was decided to invest in automobiles and machine tools and in order to distinguish between the two businesses Toyoda decided to call the car company Toyota. Both companies were successful although both are now listed on stock exchanges and are totally independent of one another although Toyota has been using Toyoda machine tools for more than 60 years.