Does Toyota Make Motorcycles? A Look At The Brand's History With Two-Wheelers

When you think about Japanese motorcycle manufacturers, names like Yamaha, Kawasaki, and Suzuki all come to mind. But you may not know that Toyota once sold motorcycles and has even created a few stunning concept models over the years. While the idea of buying anything from Toyota that isn't a car or truck might seem strange, there are examples in the industry like BMW and Honda who offer both four-wheel and two-wheel vehicles. Over 70 years ago when Toyota began offering motorcycles as a result of an economic boom in the country, many of today's largest Japanese bike manufacturers were also getting their start.

Following World War II, Japan saw dramatic growth in its motorbike industry particularly in the 1950s with demand jumping sharply. A mere 127 motorcycles were produced in 1945, but by 1960, Japanese manufacturers had churned out 1,349,090 units. During that same time frame, Kazuo Kawamata, who would go on to create Toyo Motors, was an avid engineer that began working for Toyota in the 1940s. He ended up developing several enhancements for the engines used to power bicycles at the time and started Toyo Motors, which was made a part of Toyota. 

Toyota actually sold bikes at their dealerships made by Toyo Motors starting in 1949 and ending in 1960. Toyo bikes offered several models that ranged in power between 50cc and 256cc. For those unfamiliar with small engines, here is what cc means with motorcycles.

Toyota had some more recent efforts as well. Oftentimes a manufacturer will create a concept vehicle to test whether the market is interested and to show what might be possible in the future. Although not every idea is a good one, evident by this collection of the strangest concept motorcycles ever developed. In the case of Toyota, their efforts on the 2009 JGRMX motorcycle 001 concept bike were meant to demonstrate the depth of customization that is possible with a motocross style machine. Of course, this bike wouldn't be possible without classic dirt bikes that paved the way for the off-road motorcycles of today. The partnership for the build included Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota NASCAR Group, Joe Gibbs Racing Motocross Group, Toyota and Yamaha. Several aftermarket pieces were sourced from industry players like JGRMX (who deals in racing parts), N-Style (motorcross graphics), and Cycra Racing (premium plastics for racing), to name a few.

In another team-up project, Toyota and Pokémon collaborated to make a motorcycle resembling the legendary Miraidon character. With a violet, silver, black, and yellow color scheme, the Toyota Miraidon Project integrated the characters dragon shape into the bike. This one-off build was made for an engineering exhibition aimed at showing children the fun that can be had in the manufacturing industry.