11) Toyota - selling the Toyota Automatic Loom Works gave inventor Sakichi Toyoda enough profit to produce his first car. That was in 1937. It took 20 years to finally sell the first Toyota in America, the Toyopet Crown, making Toyota Motor Corp the first Asian carmaker to enter the U.S. market. The Toyota Camry is now the best-selling car in the United States
12) Nissan - in 1934, Jidosha Seizo changed its company name to Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., and began selling Datsuns in Asia and Central and South America. Forty-four were shipped in 1935. Right on the heels of Toyota, Nissan began exporting to the United States in 1958. Datsuns became Nissans in 1981, to the puzzlement of thousands worldwide.
13) Chevrolet - William Durant, founder of General Motors, was $7 million in debt and figured he could turn it all around by sponsoring racer Louis Chevrolet to quickly build a car under his well-known name. The first Chevrolet, the Classic Six sedan, hit the streets in 1912 with a straight-six engine. The Chevrolet Motor Car Company was incorporated in 1911, to be fully assimilated by GM in 1918. Interchangability of Chevrolet products with other GM brands followed shortly thereafter.
14) Ford - Henry Ford invented the modern age with his revolution in mass production known as the assembly line. The first recorded sale of a Model T was in 1903, eventually totaling 15 million sales. In 1932, Ford Motor Company successfully cast the first one-piece V8 engine block. Today, the F-150 truck is the best- selling vehicle in the United States. In a perfect world, it would be the Ford GT instead.
15) Dodge - brothers John and Horace Dodge, minority stockholders in Ford Motor Company, built their first car in 1917 with money made from Ford's success. Chrysler purchased Dodge Brothers, Inc. in 1928. A few years later, the SRT-4 was made.
16) Mitsubishi - translated literally as "three diamonds," Mitsubishi was originally created as a shipping firm in 1870. Diversification led to Japan's first car, the Mitsubishi Model A, in 1917. Allied forces fragmented the company into Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and 139 other companies in 1946. MHI then created Mitsubishi Motor Corp. in 1970, which went on to notable success in rallying with the Galant and Lancer platforms.
17) Mazda - Ahura Mazda was the highest Zoroastrian god of reason. Conveniently, the word Mazda also closely resembles the sound of the founder's name, Jujiro Matsuda, who started the company in 1920 as Toyo Cork Kogyo Co. Mazda's work on the rotary engine began as a technical cooperation with NSU/Wankel in 1961. The rotary lives on today as the RENESIS.
18) Lexus - conceived by Toyota in 1983 as a brand to challenge the world's premier cars, the name 'Lexus' just sounded great. Lexis, a legal information network, begged to differ and filed suit against Toyota just months prior to 1989's introduction of the first car, the LS400.
19) SVT - Special Vehicle Team; Ford's in-house tuning arm.
20) PVO - Performance Vehicle Operations; Chrysler's in-house tuning arm.