Toyota also builds houses: you can park a Toyota in a Toyota garage

Having a Toyota in the garage is fairly commonplace - the brand has led the global market for decades. Owning a garage built by Toyota is far less usual. In Japan, however, you can have both: a Toyota parked in a Toyota garage. Sounds confusing? Slightly, but it will soon make sense.

Toyota also builds homes, and this is nothing new. The Japanese giant has been manufacturing modular houses since 1977.

It may seem unusual for a car maker to branch out into property. Yet the industrial processes involved are, in fact, very similar to those used to manufacture vehicles. Toyota homes are not conventional brick-and-cement properties; they are modular steel houses. In other words, they rely on the same raw material Toyota has worked with for more than 90 years.

This arm of the Japanese group is called Toyota Home. Around 85% of the work is completed in the factory, allowing a house to be finished in as little as 45 days. The company also advertises a warranty of up to 60 years.

Where did the inspiration come from?

Toyota's move into the housing sector was no coincidence. The concept dates back to the vision of Kiichiro Toyoda, the founder of the brand's automotive division.

While visiting Ford's factories in Detroit, Toyoda was struck by the efficiency of the Ford Model T assembly line. He recognised that the system's real value lay not only in making cars, but also in its ability to turn steel into complex products quickly, consistently and under strict control.

Decades later, that approach was brought to housebuilding. Toyota Home was created to apply to construction the same principles that define the brand's car production: industrialisation, quality control, reduced waste and highly precise manufacturing.

“Toyota Home aims to provide a lifetime of total satisfaction. We strive to achieve the highest level of customer satisfaction,” the company states on one of its websites. And if you are already considering buying one of these homes, be aware that they are not available on the UK market.

How are Toyota Home houses built?

Most of the work is completed before the house even reaches the plot. Rather than building on site using traditional methods, the brand produces three-dimensional steel ‘cubes’, each measuring roughly 14 m². These modules leave the factory almost complete, with walls, windows, plumbing and electrical wiring already installed. They then only need to be transported and assembled on site.

The influence of the automotive industry extends far beyond the way these homes are made. Before reaching customers, the modules undergo earthquake simulations in a process comparable to the crash tests carried out on cars.

Steel structures and anti-corrosion techniques developed for the car industry also enable the company to offer a structural warranty of up to 60 years. This is roughly twice the average lifespan commonly attributed to many Japanese homes.

A business that remains small

Despite almost five decades of experience, Toyota Home still accounts for only a small share of Japan's housing market.

According to figures released by the company itself, the division produced around 15,000 units in 2019, in a market where more than 40,000 prefabricated single-family homes were sold. As mentioned, Toyota Home manufactures solely for the Japanese market.