Japan

Main article: Japanese automobile industry

Japan, with its large population squeezed into very high density cities with good public transit, has limited roadways that carry very heavy traffic. Hence most automobiles are small in terms of size and weight. From a humble beginning, Japan is now the biggest auto manufacturing country in the world. Nissan began making trucks in 1914, and sold cars under the Datsun brand until it switched to Nissan in the 1980s. It opened its first U.S. plant in Tennessee in the early 1980s and a U.K. plant in 1986. Its luxury models carry the brand Infiniti. Honda, which began with motorcycles, emerged after World War II. Its luxury vehicles are sold under the Acura brand. Toyota began making cars in the 1930s and is now the world's largest producer. Its luxury models carry the Lexus brand. Toyota is famous for its innovative, quality-conscious management style, and its hybrid gas-electric vehicles, especially the Prius, which was launched in 1997. Other major companies include Subaru, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Suzuki, and Isuzu. Japan became the world's leading auto maker in 1980,^{[citation needed]} the first year since 1905 that the United States had been outproduced by any other nation.