4/15/1940 Hiratsuka automobile part factory created thru joint capital investment.
9/14/1940 Creation of Riken Corp. a development and research company for the development of automotive goods.
February 1941 “AE” type medium passenger car production starts “New Japan”
5/01/1941 Creation of Toyoda Machine Works, Ltd. In order to produce the special purpose machine which is suited for mass production, to separate free the machine tool section, obtaining the establishment permission with machine tool production.
7/21/1941 Kiitirou Toyoda president inauguration
December 1941 Pre-War output set at 2066 units per month.
Historical Note: December 7, 1941 Japan’s attach on Pearl Harbor.
2/1942 Shanghai factory established Toyota’s china automotive industry expansion.
2/1/1942 Toyoda central cotton spinning establishment to separate.
March 1942 “KB” type truck production started (improved “GB” type)
Taken from Wikipedia.com, the free encyclopedia “KB-Type, An update to the GB to make it more suitable for war time production. The body was still made from steel but was of a simpler design with less curves. Production was 21130 units between 1942 and 1944. Similar to the GB.”
April 1942 “LB” type truck ( “KB” type short chassis) production started.
June 1942 Aircraft section starts production.
I had heard rumor of this in the past…and it’s not confirmed from Toyota…I had heard that they worked on aircraft props and canopies and interior components.
10/3/1942 Opening of Toyota Hospital ( pic of the hospital:
http://www.toyota-industries.com/cor.../image1943.jpg ) (present day KARIYA TOYOTA General Hospital, link:
http://www.toyota-kai.or.jp/ )