Assembly of the Model
GB truck in Shanghai
On July 15, 1936, four units of the GA truck, developed as
an upgraded version of the G1 truck, were loaded at Nagoya Port onto a ship
bound for Manchukuo (now northeastern China). This, the first export of a
Toyota vehicle, came only eight months after Toyoda Automatic Loom Works had
announced the launch of the G1 truck.
Later, in February 1937, to respond to increased demand in
mainland China, a repair plant was established in Shanghai and automobile
repair operations began. Following the establishment of Toyota Motor Co., Ltd.,
the plant was taken over by the newly formed company and became the basis for
the construction of a vehicle assembly plant completed in May 1939, the Shanghai
Plant, where assembly production of the Toyota GB truck was carried out. In
February 1942, the Shanghai Plant became an independent entity with the
establishment of Kachu Toyoda Jidosha Kogyo, a company capitalized at five
million yen. The new company expanded the plant and began local production of
parts.
The Tianjin Plant was established in January 1938 and began
operating as an assembly and vehicle body manufacturing plant from April 22 of
the same year. In addition to assembly production of the Toyota GB truck and
Toyota bus chassis, the plant undertook production and repair of a range of
vehicle bodies as well as sales of vehicles manufactured by other Japanese
companies, foreign-made vehicles, and associated vehicle parts. Subsequently,
with the aim of establishing self-sufficiency in the supply of parts, the
Tianjin Plant was spun off as an independent company: following an injection of
external capital, Hokushi Jidosha Kogyo was established on February 20, 1940.
The company installed new casting, forging, heat treatment, and machining
plants at the Tianjin Plant, and, in addition to local parts production, took
on responsibility for automotive research and development tailored to
conditions in mainland China. The company's head office was located in Beijing.
On May 1, 1944, at the request of the military, Hokushi
Jidosha Kogyo merged with the Automotive Department of the nationalized Kahoku
Transport Company1 to become the Kahoku Jidosha Kogyo. In addition to
manufacture of vehicles and vehicle parts, the company's operations included
vehicle maintenance and upgrading. To promote independent vehicle manufacturing
operations, the company worked to strengthen the system of self-sufficiency in
parts supply at the Tianjin Plant.
In 1942, to respond to increased demand for vehicle repair
in southern China2, In 1942, to respond to increased demand for vehicle repair
in southern China.
Prototype Production
of a Range of Vehicles
Front-wheel drive and suspension equipment of the DKW
vehicle, the model for the EA compact passenger car
In 1936, a unit of the DKW compact passenger car
(front-wheel drive) bought in Germany by Kazuo Kumabe, an assistant professor
of the Tokyo Imperial University Faculty of Engineering, was delivered to the
Shibaura Laboratory. The Automotive Department of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works
decided to disassemble and sketch the vehicle and make drawings of it, with
Eiji Toyoda in charge of the engine and Higuma Ikenaga in charge of the
suspension and other parts. This led to the prototype production of the EA
small passenger car, which began in a section of the Kariya Assembly Plant from
around June 1937.
When assembly was later transferred to the Koromo Plant, the
prototype vehicle was left untouched at the Kariya Plant for a time, but in
1940 it was decided to produce engines and chassis at the plant's electrical
components plant. For the vehicle body, a wooden model was created in the
woodwork shop of an auto body plant also located at Kariya, and ten prototype
units of the EA small passenger car were completed.
Meanwhile, the Tokyo Shibaura Plant developed the EB small
passenger car by converting the EA into a rear engine/rear drive (RR) format,
while the Kariya electrical components plant created the prototype of the EC
electric vehicle using the chassis of the EA.
Model C engine
Prototype production of the C-model medium-sized engine
began in May 1937 and was completed in March 1939 (Table 1-10). This was a
four-cylinder engine developed on the base of the six-cylinder B engine, with
identical bore, stroke, and compression ratio to the B-model but a displacement
volume of 2,258 cc, equivalent to two-thirds that of the B-model (3,389cc). The
cylinder head, cylinder block, crankshaft and other parts could be processed
using the same manufacturing facilities as for the B engine, and many other
parts were also transferrable from the B-model without alteration.
During this period, in March 1938, the Ministry of Commerce
and Industry requested the development of a medium-sized vehicle with a
displacement volume less than that of the AA passenger car (around 2,400 cc)
for the purpose of fuel conservation. As Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. was engaged at
the time in the development of the C engine, it was decided in July 1938 to
start work on the creation of a medium-sized passenger car fitted with this
engine. Completed in September 1939, the prototype of this AE medium-sized
passenger car was announced by the Automotive Technology Committee and achieved
excellent performance in test runs covering a total distance of 1,500
kilometers.
BA passenger car
(wooden body)
In a public competition held from November 1, 1939, the AE
medium-sized passenger car was named 'Shin-Nippon'.1 On January 18 of the next
year, 1940, senior management from dealerships was invited to the Koromo Plant
for a presentation and test ride of the Shin-Nippon.
As there were strict limitations on the production of
passenger cars at the time, only 76 units of the AE medium-sized passenger car
were produced. In May of that year, in order to conserve steelplate, a BA model
with a wooden body was developed and 17 units were produced.
Despite the circumstance of restrictions on passenger car
manufacture, Kiichiro Toyoda wished to promote technology development with a
view to the future. On September 13, 1940, he therefore issued an order for
research to be undertaken into prototypes and for preparations to be made for
their production. The introduction to the order emphasized the need for
technology development, declaring "Toyota anticipates that, as times
change, a day will come when this type of production is required. We should
therefore undertake research into prototype production". Specifically, a
definition was given of the 'vehicle types that Toyota may produce in the
future' (Table 1-11). Research progressed based on this order and, whenever
there was an opportunity, passenger cars and special vehicles of the types
outlined below were produced in prototype.
In accordance with Kiichiro's instructions, electric vehicle
development began in 1940 at the Kariya electrical components plant, where a
non-combustion electric engine using glass-covered wires was produced in
prototype. In August of the same year, an electric vehicle was completed which
adopted the chassis of the EA small passenger car and was fitted with a storage
battery made at the Tokyo Shibaura Plant and the non-combustion electric engine
created in the electrical components plant. his prototype was called the EC
electric vehicle and had a driving range of around 60 kilometers per charge.
Electric vehicle
In 1941, when Kiichiro became President of Toyota Motor Co.,
Ltd., electric vehicles became a research item under the direct control of the
President and research continued at the electrical components plant. Using the
BA passenger car chassis developed in 1940, six prototype electric vehicle
units were produced fitted with a storage battery and electric engine produced
in-house.2
As discussed above, Kiichiro conducted research and
development on storage batteries and motor, the key components of electric
cars, and used these technologies to develop electric vehicles.
In December 1937, the Shibaura Laboratory in Tokyo started
work on the design of the DC large-sized bus for mainland China. In November
1938, one prototype unit was completed, which was shipped to Tianjin in
February 1939.
Model KCY truck with
four-wheel drive
In parallel with the development of the KC truck, the design
of a modified version, the four-wheel drive KCY truck, began in October 1942.
The prototype was completed in June 1943 and public road testing was carried
out in August of the same year.
Plough/ski-shaped
four-wheel drive amphibious vehicle
A plough/ski-shaped four-wheel drive amphibious vehicle
whose development was based on the KCY truck was produced between November 1943
and August 1944 in a run of 198 units. The chassis of the KCY four-wheel drive
truck thus became the basis of subsequent Toyota all-wheel drive technology.
AK10 small four-wheel
drive truck chassis
In April 1944, work started on the design of the AK10 small
four-wheel drive truck. In July of the same year, six prototype units were
completed, but, just as preparations were under way for full-scale production,
the war ended in defeat for Japan, and production plans were suspended. After
the war, when it came to the development of a jeep-type all-wheel drive
vehicle, the design technology of the AK10 and the remaining parts proved of
great use.
Source: TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION
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