Toyota (豊田市, Toyota-shi, pronounced [toꜜjota ɕi]), formerly known as Koromo, is a city in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

The city area is mountainous to the north, with peaks averaging around 1000 feet (328 m) in height along its northern border with Nagano and Gifu Prefectures.

The area of present-day Toyota City has been inhabited since prehistoric times, and archaeologists have found a continuous record of artifacts from the Japanese paleolithic period onwards.

In early proto-historic times, the area was under the control of the Mononobe clan, who built numerous kofun burial mounds.

During the Edo period, parts of the area of the current city were under the control of Koromo Domain, a feudal han under the Tokugawa shogunate; however, most of the area of the current city was tenryō territory controlled directly by the government in Edo and administered through hatamoto class appointed administrators.

[8] On March 1, 1951, Koromo gained city status, and absorbed the village of Takahashi from Nishikamo District on September 30, 1956.

Due to the fame and economic importance of its major employer, the city of Koromo (挙母市) changed its name to Toyota on January 1, 1959.

[9][10] Mitsuru Obe and Eric Pfanner of The Wall Street Journal stated that by 2015 Toyota was recovering from an economic depression "so deep that some were comparing it to Detroit.

"[11] Toyota has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature of 45 members.

[1] In 2013 company head Akio Toyoda reported that it had difficulties retaining foreign employees at the headquarters due to the lack of amenities in Toyota.