Some toy. Hiroshima’s thriving Toyo Kogyo Co. Ltd. outproduced all other Japanese automakers last year and had the industry’s fattest profit margin on sales of $231,500,000. This month it ...

Shinpachi Kaizuka founded the company Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd. in 1920 in Hiroshima, Japan, marking the beginning of Mazda's history. The company specialized in manufacturing cork and machine tools.

Originally formed as a cork board making company in 1920, Toyo Kogyo Company branched out into making a variety of other products after a fire caused serious damage to its production facilities.

Mr. Matsuda, the grandson of Mazda founder Jujiro Matsuda, joined the Japanese automaker -- then known as Toyo Kogyo -- in 1961 as a vice president. He helped the Hiroshima-based company introduce ...