50 years ago Toyota introduced itself to the UK audience and today the Japanese company has not only sold over three million vehicles in Britain but also builds some of them there as well.
The 1965 Corona was the first Toyota sold in the UK as the original UK importer and distributor Pride and Clark managed to create a small dealership network. As business prospered, Toyota introduced its Corolla in 1966 and by 1980 200,000 cars had been sold.
In 1989 Toyota chose the UK as the location of its European manufacturing operations and three years later, the Burnaston car plant and the Deeside engine factory became operational.
To remind us of its very important history, Toyota UK is running a heritage fleet with some of its most influential models. The line-up includes models like an original Corona, an immaculate bone-stock Corolla AE86, a third-gen MR2 Roadster, a 1992 Carina-E which is one of the first British-built models and the founder of the compact SUVs as we know them today, a first generation RAV4.
Toyota also made a detailed search for the oldest UK-registered model and find out that not one, but two original Corona saloons are still on the road.
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