Japan has been manufacturing vehicles for nearly as long as America, to the wonder of some. Because the American car business has changed, so has Japan’s. To this day, however, Japan still has the best concentration of automakers of any country on earth: 9 to be exact. 3, but, are real standouts producing not only top quality vehicles but reaching well beyond Japan to any or all corners of the planet. Let’s take a peek at the prime 3 and how they’re impacting the North American market.
Toyota – As the largest of all Japanese automakers, Toyota ranks only second to General Motors in world production. Toyota vehicles were first introduced to the North American market in the Sixties and were, at the time, widely panned by critics as being too little and inferior in quality. By the late Seventies, Toyota quality levels began to exceed the industry standard. Today, some take into account Toyota the benchmark by which all car lines are judged; the company’s Lexus line of luxury vehicles and Scion brand of youth oriented vehicles are also leaders in their respective classes.