Toyota Store Aichi

Toyopet Store, Saitama

Corolla Store Kyotanabe

Netz Store, Tsurumi-ku, Osaka

Toyota vehicles in Japan are distributed to numerous dealership chains throughout the country. Up to May 2020, each dealership chain had a different product offering, with some models restricted to one chain to maintain exclusivity. Since May 2020, every Toyota model in Japan was available in all dealership chains.^[1] Current dealership chains include Toyota Store, Toyopet Store, Toyota Corolla Store and Netz Store.

History

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In Japan in the late 1940s, Toyota's sales department was part of its manufacturing company and had its office in Nagoya.^[2]

At that time, the Japanese auto industry was controlled by the U.S. government.^[3] The majority of Toyota's sales was composed of trucks and buses. The new car business in Japan was quite limited.^[4] There was little need for consumer-oriented branding or consumer-oriented showrooms.

On April 3, 1950, Toyota established a separate company for sales of its motor vehicles, including exports, called トヨタ自動車販売株式会社 Toyota Jidōsha Hanbai Kabushiki Gaisha, Toyota Auto Sales Corporation, sometimes abbreviated トヨタ自販 Toyota Jihan.^[2] In 1950, there were forty-seven sales outlets for Toyota vehicles in Japan.^[5]

In 1955, Toyota launched a new style of sedan, the Crown.^[6]

In 1957, Toyota began manufacturing a slightly smaller and more economical sedan, the Corona.^[7] A separate sales network, Toyopet Stores (トヨペット店 Toyopetto-ten), was created to sell the Corona and Toyopet ToyoAce trucks. It currently features mid-range models.

To distinguish Crown showrooms from Corona showrooms, the former came to be called Toyota Stores (トヨタ店 Toyota-ten).^[8] In the 1960s, Toyota Stores added a new luxury car, the Century.

In 1957, Toyota launched Toyota Diesel Stores (トヨタディーゼル店 Toyota Dīzeru-ten), a dealership network for diesel commercial vehicles that initially sold trucks, buses, and forklifts, such as the Dyna and Coaster. Hino products were likewise sold at Diesel Stores after Toyota acquired that company in 1967. Starting in 1980, Diesel Stores sold the Starlet, Corolla, Corona, Vista, and Crown equipped with diesel engines, as well as the first-generation Tercel, although it was not available with a diesel engine at the time. When the Toyota Diesel store network was disbanded in 1988, commercial vehicles were divided between Toyota Stores and Toyopet Stores.

Toyota Publica Stores (トヨタパブリカ店 Toyota Paburika-ten) were established in 1961 to sell the Publica. In 1966, the chain of outlets was renamed Toyota Corolla Store" (トヨタカローラ店 Toyota Karōra-ten); it sells the economy model, Corolla.^[9]

The "Toyota Auto Stores" (トヨタオート店 Toyota Ōto-ten) sales network was established in 1967 to sell a Corolla clone called the Sprinter. "Toyota Vista Stores" (トヨタ・ビスタ) sales network was established in 1980, and a Camry clone called the Vista was developed in 1982.^[9] Toyota Auto Stores were rebranded as Netz Toyota (ネッツトヨタ店 Nettsu-Toyota-ten) ("Network of Energetic Teams for Zenith"), targeting young buyers, in August 1998. Toyota Vista Stores was subsequently merged into Netz Toyota in 2004. Some former Vista Store models, such as the Altezza and the Aristo, were rebranded as Lexus (レクサス Rekusasu), while other products were taken over by Netz Toyota, which was already selling the ist and the RAV4.

In 2012, selected Japanese dealerships were given a special designation, Area 86, that resembled the North American Toyota network, called Scion, to sell the 86, building on the marketing approach started with WiLL-branded products.^[9][10] As of 2017, the Area 86 network was rebranded as GR for Gazoo Racing, sharing a similar approach to the performance division Toyota Racing Development (TRD), providing various upgrades for the 86, Vitz, Prius, Mark X, Harrier, Noah and Voxy.^[11]

In the female idol group, AKB48, Toyota and AKS have worked together to create a subunit named Team 8, which was marketed with the slogan: "Idols who come to meet you." They have a total of 47 members, each representing a prefecture of Japan.

Starting in May 2020, models that were exclusive to particular Toyota dealership networks began to be shared with other Toyota dealership networks. Consequently, in Japan a customer can purchase any Toyota new from any of the four dealership groups, while Lexus products remain exclusive to Lexus locations.^[12]

List of models sold in the retail channels

The following is a list of models that used to be exclusive to certain dealerships. The past models are identified with a ☆ while the present models are identified with a ★, as well as where they were available at retail channels nationally. Most of the models can now finally be found in every store from all dealership groups since May 2020 due to Toyota's Unification Strategy. Exceptions like the Century are labelled with an ◎.

Note that some cars appear in more than one dealership list (e.g. the Toyota Prius shows up in the car list of all four dealerships). This is because such car were already available in more than one dealership (in this case, the Prius was available in all four dealership).

References