Toyota first began selling cars in Europe under an official distributor agreement in 1963. Since then, the company has matured into the leading Japanese car manufacturer in this highly competitive market. Toyota directly and indirectly employs around 94,000 people in Europe and has invested over EUR 8 billion since 1990. Toyota’s operations in Europe are supported by a network of 30 National Marketing and Sales Companies across 56 countries, a total of around 3,000 sales outlets, and nine manufacturing plants.