The Classic Toyota story

Celebrating 40 years of iconic Toyota motoring
For more than forty years, Toyota has transformed the UK's motoring landscape with iconic landmark design, forging inroads where others followed yet never forgetting its roots in "Good Thinking. Good Products".

Given its reputation for rock-solid reliability and value, it is little wonder that Britain's drivers clasped Toyota to their heart from the moment the first imports burst on to the scene in 1965. Anyone who has delighted behind the wheel of the products of Japan's sharpest motoring minds knows that to own a Toyota is to be part of motoring history. This site not only celebrates Toyota's unique role in the Britain's car heritage, it helps its customers own a slice too.

True car aficionados drooled all the way into their bell-bottomed flares with the appearance of 'the Japanese Mustang', the Celica, in the 1970s. For them, this high performance car wasn't just Latin for Heavenly, it was out of this world - and paved the way for the world's first super car, the Supra, with its top speed of 170mph. Then, the 1980s - that decade of conspicuous decadence - gave birth to the MR2. With its innovative T-shape on top and the first mass-produced 4 valve cylinder under the bonnet, 'the Pocket Rocket' went on to become one of Britain's best-loved sports cars.

Yet alongside dizzying high spec, Toyota treasured in equal measure for its unremitting loyalty to practical functionality. The Previa people carrier was one of the first of its kind and redefined roomy, accommodating as it did enough space for an impressive equipment roster that included ABS, double airbags and even cruise control. Similarly, the highly maneuverable Yaris Verso became the third millennium's first European Car of the Year for pulling off the trick of being a small car with the space of an estate. But if you needed a byword for Toyota's pursuit of economy in all guises, you need look no further than the Corolla hatchback. After making its humble way on to our roads in the 1970s, 30 years and 30 million cars later it became officially the best-selling car in the world for its reliability and making life easy. Good thinking and a good product - and as the Toyota story continues, there's lots more where that comes from.

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