Toyota: Fifty Years in Motion [Hardcover]

Eiji Toyoda (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Japanese (translation)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 170 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha Amer Inc; 1st edition (June 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870118234
• ISBN-13: 978-0870118234
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,165,869 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A stoic but poignant look back at their trials and successes, December 28, 2008

By 

Letitia (Stanford, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Toyota: Fifty Years in Motion (Hardcover)

My dad used to manage a cab company, and received this book from a factory visit back when he was ordering 1,000+ Coronas and Crowns a year but he never read it.
I found the history of Toyota fascinating (they started as an automated loom-maker), I enjoyed the clever ways they dealt with the Japanese military to get materials and contracts during WW2. Toyoda's prose is stoic, but surprisingly touching as he recounts relationships among the talents of the founding Toyoda family, and implicit is the remarkable, unquestioning spirit that united them to keep pushing themselves despite years of suffering. An inspiring read.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Review on "Toyota: Fifty Years in Motion", November 21, 2002

By 

Carlo22 (Philippines) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Toyota: Fifty Years in Motion (Hardcover)

It is of no wonder that a brilliant man such as Mr. Eiji Toyoda could create a brilliant and inspiring narration of his life.

I had borrowed the book from our college library, being curious as to how the Toyota automobile empire was formed. Mr. Toyoda's story goes through his boyhood days at a mill--during the pre-World War II days when Toyota was still a small textile company--up to the mid-80's when Toyota is already one of the biggest carmakers of the world. I especially enjoyed Mr. Toyoda's story on his early days as an ordinary Toyota employee: Toyota was then a very small car company (that had its roots in textiles) and the young Eiji and his colleague-friends had to start from scratch in building cars. Also, the story on the company's struggle to survive in the post-wwII days was remarkable.

I would highly recommend this inspirational book to everyone, especially to those who are students/practicioners in the field of engineering. I would say that Mr. Eiji Toyoda epitomizes many admirable characteristics befitting an ideal engineer: persistent, industrious, dedicated, and loyal, among others.

The millions of people who now appreciate Toyota cars owe it to this great man, who was once a little boy who dreamed great dreams in a small textile mill.