A JOURNEY WITH A DIFFERENCE
IT IS POSSIBLE, MAYBE EVEN PROBABLE, that most New Zealanders haven’t heard of Toyota City. Just as likely is that on discovering its existence, New Zealanders will immediately guess that the city takes its name from the motor corporation. They would be right. The Toyota Motor Corporation dominates the city which has a population of around 420,000. It is the major employer, having four plants in the area as well as its corporate headquarters. But it is not the only major automotive presence in the city. Several of Japan’s leading car manufacturers have plants in the city either assembling finished cars or creating specialist parts for global exportation. It is then, a city dominated by the car industry and its history reflects that. The city was originally called Koromo and built largely…