A Look at the History of the Auto Industry in Japan
Today, cars and trucks made by Japanese companies are sold all over the world. An estimated 7.83 million cars and trucks are manufactured in the Asian country every year. Experts say that in 2013, the Toyota Company is expected to make roughly 11 million vehicles. All of the sales of Japanese cars means that there is also a large market for parts, such as used Japanese engines and transmissions. One only has to Google, “Japanese transmissions for sale” or “Japanese engines for sale” to see how great the need is.
This was not always the case. The decades that followed the first mass production of cars and trucks were dominated by vehicles made in the United States. Now, one writer at the Globe and Mail has documented his view of the rise of Japan as an automotive powerhouse.
Peter Cheney writes that he started seeing Japan as an ascending auto manufacturing superpower at the end of the 1970s. When his father went to buy a new car he opted for a Honda Accord and told his son that is was simply a “better car.” He went a step further and suggested his son follow suit.
As many sons do, Cheney did not listen. At the time, he believed that German engineered cards were the best. This was partially because of a boyhood experience he had visiting a Porsche plant in Germany where he was told that it was a sacred place. He was told that German engineered cars were the best on the planet.
While some of the people Cheney knew had Japanese cars and he knew people who had talked about getting Japanese transmissions for sale, it was not until his father actually bought one that he gave them all that much thought.
The ascendency of Japan as a power player in the world of automobiles was not at all sex from the get-go. As late as the beginning of the 1960s, no one could have foreseen how fast it would rise and how quickly. Japan’s manufacturing industries had been all but destroyed during World War II.andnbsp;
Things were going to change for the industry. Toyota built a headquarters in California in 1957. Later that would become its main hub in North America. By the time 1975 arrived, Toyota cars topped the list of imported vehicles.
There are a few reasons why Japan went from the bottom to the top in terms of car and truck sales around the planet. The Japanese companies’ focus on detail in the engineering process, the consistency in the products they made were both integral to their success. They were known for things that matter to everyday drivers. The cars and trucks they put out were reliable.
That does not mean that Japanese car manufacturers were not looking to add style to their repertoire. They were not ashamed of looking to other countries’ auto industries for inspiration. While the Japanese transmissions for sale were sound, they looked to other companies, looked at what worked and what did not and incorporated the aspects they liked while making improvements to them. They took some of the ideas from some of the best built German cars and included them. They went a step further by making the German engineering, that was so good, and putting into cars and trucks that people could afford. This is when the demand for Japanese transmissions for sale increased.
Despite tariffs that were placed on imported vehicles going into North America at the end of the 1970s, Japanese cars were making a lot of headway. Part of the reason is that automotive enthusiasts were seeing the value-added aspects the Japanese companies were putting into their vehicles.
Cheney reports that he carefully looked over the plans for the Honda Accord, the car his father had purchased and matched them with the plans for American and German cars that were made around the same time. He saw perfection in the Japanese car plans. He saw hints of what made Japanese fighter planes in World War II better than what the Allies were using.
Today, Japanese cars are driven everywhere and the demand for Japanese transmission for sale is up. This is due to their excellent engineering and practicality.