Before the 1930s, gasoline powered cars were imported from Europe and the United States.
From the late 19th century to the 1930s, gasoline powered cars were not common in Japan. They were usually imported from Europe and the United States. In the mid-1930s, both Toyota and the Automobile Manufacturing Company, which later became Nissan, were founded and began mass producing cars and trucks. After World War II, both Toyota and Nissan utilized international manufacturing technology to dramatically increase their production and become world leaders in automobile production. Despite the late introduction of automobile engineering in Japan, today Japanese firms dominate the global market and are among the most advanced producers of energy-efficient automobiles.