BookTitleToyota Tsusho 70-Year History

Summary

Toyota Tsusho 70-Year History

Institutions was promulgated, and financial controls were further enhanced. Sincethe civilian demand for financing dropped sharply, the monthly installment salespoint effectively disappeared.At this point, the idea of making Toyota Kinyu function as a holding companycame up.June 1941 Toyota Kinyu moved to NipponChohei-kan (Miyukihonmachi-dori, Nishi-ku,Nagoya-shi), and was still there in April of 1942when it changed its name to Toyota Sangyo3 The Change to a Holding CompanyAt a General Shareholders Meeting in March 1940, a decision was made tochange part of the Articles of Incorporation of Toyota Kinyu in order for it to takeon the role of a holding company.“Holding marketable securities, and investing inother businesses”was added under the company purpose,“Investing in automobiletransport businesses.”Later, other objectives were also added, such as“acting asan agent for property and life insurance, holding, use, management of real estate,and a promoter for other companies.”This addition“holding marketable securitiesand investing in other businesses,”was the basis of Toyota Kinyu taking on therole of a holding company.After changing from a monthly installment sales company to a holdingcompany, Toyota Kinyu started fresh and took its first step in August 1940, when,along with Toyoda Boshoku and Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, it became ajoint guarantor for Toyota Steel Works to borrow 10 million yen in constructionfunds from a bank to construct a plant in Chita, Aichi.In November 1941, the management team was reshuffled, and Tojiro Okamoto,who had a lot of influence in the group, was assigned as a managing director. Theother directors were the leaders of the companies in the group: Heikichi Toyoda,Akiji Nishikawa, Hisayoshi Akai, and Iwataro Okabe. Along with PresidentRisaburo Toyoda and Director Kiichiro Toyoda, having so much of the leadershipserve as directors showed that Toyota Kinyu was the group’s holding company inrealityaswellasinname.Section 2 The Name Change to Toyota Sangyo1 Implementation of the Automobile Distribution SystemIn April 1942, Toyota Kinyu changed its name to Toyota Sangyo. Althoughthe newly renamed company inherited the installment sales business as it was,restrictions had become tighter after the start of the Pacific War in the previousyear, and automobile sales had become much more difficult. The finishing blowswere struck in May 1942, when the Ordinance on the Improvement of FinancialBusinesses was promulgated, and the Japan Automobile Distribution Co. wasestablished in July of that year. Regional distribution companies were establishedas subordinate organizations in each prefecture, and independent dealers wereintegrated by region, creating a completely controlled distribution system.Installment financing disappeared, but the general holdings of Toyota Sangyo,including Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. and several other companies, reached 13 millionyen in 1943, and management was stable due to dividend and interest income. InJuly of the same year, Toyota Sangyo moved its headquarters to 4-15, Shinsakaemachi,Naka-ku, Nagoya-shi (currently the headquarters of Chubu-NipponBroadcasting).38