What did you think the Toyota logo was?

Bullcrap (sorry, it just fits). That's Toyota's explination of the logo today. Nothing was said about that when it was introduced years ago. And indeed, if the goal was portray the Toyota name, simplier designs would accomplish that without twisting the block letters into odd ovals.

Going back to what I said earlier, the logo was first introduced solely in the North American marketplace. At the time, Japan was obsessed with Texas, cowboys, and pickups (may also explain why Toyota located it's factory in Texas). Cowboy movies (John Wayne, etc) were extremely popular and the television series Dallas was the number one show on Japanese television (and here as well). And cowboys were commonly portrayed as driving pickup trucks with cow horns on the hood (one of the main characters in the television series Dallas did so).

Based on that, I firmly believe the logo was originally intended to represent the HEAD OF A BULL with an oval around it (the oval consistent with other Japanese vehicle logos - and with brands used on cows). Now that Toyota has adopted the logo worldwide, they're distancing themselves from the American cowboy connotation. However, that doesn't change the design's original intent.

 

Toyota's San Antonio plant was long after the introduction of the oval badge.
It started up in 2003... even giving a couple of years for planning and construction, the new logo appeared 14 years earlier in 1989 on non-US luxury models. The Lexus (as well as Nissan's Infinity) badge was a North American exclusive.
It didn't appear on the N50 pickup until '93.

Toyota's official line does not explain it as a melding of the 6 letters, the meaning is much deeper
http://www.toyota-global.com/showroom/emblem/passion/

 

Of course, I never said the plant's location was in any way related to the oval badge. Instead, I suggested both were likely related to the Japanese obsession with Texas, cowboys, and pickups.

 

Yeah... I thought it was a bull. Actually when I was really young, like 8, it made sense to me that Toyota's bull logo looked a lot cheaper than Lamborghini's Bull logo lol.

Took me a good 5 years to realize the Yamaha logo was 3 tuning forks and not just a snow flake.

 

True true... and in fairness, "Dallas" ran until 1991, 2 years after the new logo appeared.