6 In 2019 and 2020, new vehicle sales in Australia have dropped significantly from the levels in previous years. Once Toyota became an importer, only, did this make it easier or harder for the Australian branch of Toyota to deal with the market shrinkage?

By 2014, Toyota had become a very successful global automaker with 53 overseas manufacturing companies in 28 countries and regions, and vehicles sold in more than 170 countries and regions. Toyota was seen by many industries and researchers as a benchmark of 'world's best practice' in operational excellence, which in Toyota was referred to as the Toyota Production System (TPS).

More generally, Toyota built on the core values created by its founders and had implemented its Toyota Way philosophy since 2001, based on two pillars of respect for people and continuous improvement, driving customer value creation and constantly pursuing perfection. These approaches have raised Toyota to a point where its vehicles were viewed by many customers as being high in their 'value proposition', based on reliability and durability, especially at the competitive price points that were offered to customers.