Looking for vehicle specifications? Compare cars or decode a VIN.

Compare cars brands

Explore their origins, identifying marks and logo archives side by side.

First brand

Second brand

Latest archived mark · 2020

Toyota

Explore full logo history →

Latest archived mark · 2018

Mazda

Explore full logo history →

What we compare	Toyota	Mazda
Country in archive	Japan	Japan
Founded	August 28, 1937	January 30, 1920
Founder	Kiichiro Toyoda	Jujiro Matsuda
Headquarters	Toyota City, Aichi, Japan	Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan
Name origin	The company began as a spin-off of the Toyoda family's loom business, and its early vehicles were sold as Toyoda. In 1936 the spelling changed to Toyota, reportedly because the new form took eight brush strokes to write in Japanese, a lucky number, and sounded clearer than the voiced original.	Mazda's own account says the name comes from Ahura Mazda, described as the god of harmony, intelligence and wisdom from the earliest civilization in West Asia. The company also notes that the name derives from the surname of its founder, Jujiro Matsuda. The name first appeared on the Mazda-Go three-wheeled truck in 1931.
Selected models	Corolla, Land Cruiser, Prius, 2000GT, Hilux, Supra	Cosmo Sport, RX-7, MX-5 Miata, 787B, CX-5, Mazda3
Earliest archived brand logo	1958	1920
Latest archived logo	2020	2018
Archived logo assets	10	15

Logo dates are archive labels; symbols dated before a brand's founding are excluded from its earliest-logo date. Asset counts include all archived variants, not just redesigns. A dash means a value is unavailable.

Sources & editorial review