How Japan Took Over the World… And Then Lost It

The Daihatsu Compagno is an automobile which was produced by Daihatsu in Japan from 1963 to 1970. It went on sale in the United Kingdom in 1964 as the first Japanese car to be sold there.

The Nissan Skyline GT-R is a sports car based on the Nissan Skyline range. The car was named at the time by BBC’s Top Gear as the only true Japanese contribution in the line of supercars, and by Jeremy Clarkson as one of the best cars in the world.

Mitsubishi says “Starion” is a contraction of “Star of Arion” — and refers to both a star and the mythical horse, Arion. Several sources attribute the name to struggles by Japanese engineers to pronounce the word stallion.

The Toyota Corolla (Japanese: トヨタ・カローラ Toyota Karōra) is a line of subcompact and compact cars manufactured by Toyota. Introduced in 1966, the Corolla was the best-selling car worldwide by 1974 and has been one of the best-selling cars in the world since then. In 1997, the Corolla became the best selling nameplate in the world, surpassing the Volkswagen Beetle.

Clarkson’s Car Years is a British television series presented by Jeremy Clarkson and first shown during June and July 2000 on BBC Two, before being shown to an international audience on BBC World.

The Alfa Romeo Arna (Type 920) is a hatchback produced by the Italian manufacturer Alfa Romeo Nissan Autoveicoli S.p.A. between 1983 and 1987. The company was founded on 9 October 1980, as a 50:50 joint venture between the Italian Alfa Romeo S.p.A. and the Japanese Nissan Motor Company. In June 2000 (when Jeremy Clarkson famously blew one up on Clarkson’s Car Years), it was reported that only 34 Alfa Romeo Arnas were still registered with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in United Kingdom.