Japan is home to many of the world's well-known car brands such as Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Lexus, Infiniti, Acura, Datsun, Hino, Daihatsu, Isuzu and Subaru.

The rapid expansion of the Japanese auto industry in the post-war period challenged American automakers on two fronts: design and cost. Japanese cars were smaller and cheaper, designed better for the fuel-conscious urban consumers who began to make up a larger and larger share of the American market.

A lot of it stems from a general pride in workmanship and Japanese work culture. For Toyota, though, they take it a step further with the Toyota Production System (TPS) which has an intense focus on minimizing waste. Also with Toyota, they don't tend to update things for the sake of updating.