Currently reading: Best manufacturer: Toyota is run by car fans, and it's paying off
The Japanese company continues to prove naysayers wrong and build brilliant, interesting and reliable cars

In some dark and stupid corners of the internet, you will find people calling Toyota an outdated legacy car maker, daft in being slow to full electrification, foolish to pursue hydrogen avenues and having left its best days behind it. (Now check out my Tesla referral code!)

It won’t come as a surprise to the sensible, though, that Toyota at the start of May recorded full-year operating profits of ¥5.35 trillion (£26 billion) – the first time ever that a Japanese company had banked more than ¥5tn.

In 2023, it sold more than 10 million cars worldwide for the first time. Couldn’t we all do with a crisis like that?

In truth, harder times are ahead. Chinese car makers operating in core sectors will threaten every mass-market car maker, with no exceptions.

But while we wonder how some will survive the onslaught, Toyota has several key things on its side.

For one, there’s the reputation of its vehicles for exceptional durability and reliability, hard-earned over decades of making cars that people simply expect to last and last well. 

It isn’t a coincidence that its market share is huge in some of the world’s most remote markets.

And closer to home, it’s not a surprise that you will find its cars used so extensively by private hire drivers.

Second, while Toyota might be behind the curve on introducing fully electrified cars, its proven hybrid powertrains offer great efficiency in everyday driving.

But where we think Toyota has an edge over perhaps any other mass-market brand when it comes to surviving and thriving in an increasingly difficult, increasingly crowded global market is in that it’s a company run from the top down by people who understand and love cars and driving.

Last year, Akio Toyoda stepped down as CEO to become chairman and let someone younger guide the company, but under Koji Sato Toyota has shown no indication that it will let up in making cars that car people want to buy and, crucially, drive.

Toyota engineers admit that without enthusiastic leadership, it wouldn’t be able to make cars like the GR Yaris, GR86 and GR Supra

At virtually all points in the car market, from the most affordable supermini to the most rugged 4x4, Toyota competes – and that’s what makes it our best manufacturer for 2024.

Matt Prior

Matt Prior
Title: Editor-at-large

Matt is Autocar’s lead features writer and presenter, is the main face of Autocar’s YouTube channel, presents the My Week In Cars podcast and has written his weekly column, Tester’s Notes, since 2013.

Matt is an automotive engineer who has been writing and talking about cars since 1997. He joined Autocar in 2005 as deputy road test editor, prior to which he was road test editor and world rally editor for Channel 4’s automotive website, 4Car. 

Into all things engineering and automotive from any era, Matt is as comfortable regularly contributing to sibling titles Move Electric and Classic & Sports Car as he is writing for Autocar. He has a racing licence, and some malfunctioning classic cars and motorbikes. 

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Citytiger 3 July 2024

I'll fix that for you,  Toyota engineers admit that without enthusiastic partnerships, it wouldn’t be able to make cars like the GR Yaris, GR86 and GR Supra. 

GR86 - Subaru, GR Supra - BMW.

Toyota, the automotive equivalent of white goods. 

xxxx 3 July 2024

GR Yaris - 42k and restricted sales though a ballot.

Swimming 26 June 2024
By ‘dark and stupid corners of the internet’ you’re talking about Asthma and lung UK, NASA, The Royal Society, the Ella Roberta Family Foundation, the UN, the EPA, every university...I could go on and on. The author is the stupid one. Millions of people get ill and die every year from air pollution from ICEs. Climate change is a reality and EVs produce a fraction of the emissions that ICEs do. Toyota are lobbying to lower air pollution standards. Obviously they are making huge profits by milking the assets they have but they are doing it at the expense of man kind.
HiPo 289 3 July 2024

Well said @Swimming. Unfortunatey we can't expect Autocar to aknowledge the pollution caused by combustion technology in general, or by Toyota combustion technology in particular.  Autocar are only motivated by not offending their advertisers.

Swimming 26 June 2024
By ‘dark and stupid corners of the internet’ you’re talking about Asthma and lung UK, NASA, The Royal Society, the Ella Roberta Family Foundation, the UN, the EPA, every university...I could go on and on. The author is the stupid one. Millions of people get ill and die every year from air pollution from ICEs. Climate change is a reality and EVs produce a fraction of the emissions that ICEs do. Toyota are lobbying to lower air pollution standards. Obviously they are making huge profits by milking the assets they have but they are doing it at the expense of mankind.