is a Japanese company manufacturing and selling outboard motors, pleasure boats, portable fire pumps, small fire trucks, pumps for construction and drainage, and refrigeration units for transportation. It also does real estate
property management
Property management is the operation, control, maintenance, and oversight of real estate and physical property. This can include residential, commercial, and land real estate. Management indicates the need for real estate to be cared for and monit ...
in Japan.
History
The company can be traced back to 1922, when the Takata Motor Research Institute began carrying out research into various forms of internal combustion engines. Research and development of high-speed, portable engine generators and radio-controlled generators began immediately; these were brought to production in 1930. During the 1930s and 40s, Tohatsu consolidated its product line and moved its corporate office to Tokyo. Among its products in the 1930s were railcars for the
Ministry of Railways
A Ministry of Railways is a Cabinet department that exists or has existed in many Commonwealth states as well as others. It generally occurs in countries where railroad transportation is a particularly important part of the national infrastructur ...
.
In 1950, production and sales of motorcycles began. 1955 brought aggressive growth to Tohatsu. Capital increased to 150 million yen and production on a new line of engines started. Sales offices were established in
Fukuoka
is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...
,
Nagoya
is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...
,
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
,
Sendai
is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, desig ...
and
Sapporo
( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...
. Dealerships were set up throughout Japan.
In the mid-1950s, the company held the top market share, with 22 percent of the Japanese motorbike market. They also manufactured
racing motorcycles and achieved success in Japan and abroad. Financial problems led to the discontinuation of Tohatsu motorcycle production in 1964.
Tohatsu Outboards
1956 ushered in the production of the first Tohatsu Outboards (1.5 hp). Since then, Tohatsu outboards have served a variety of marketplaces: commercial fishing, military, marine transport, surf life saving, recreation and competition racing. They are the second largest producer of outboards in the world.
![Tohatsu 50](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Tohatsu_50.jpg)
As well as marketing outboards under its own brand, Tohatsu outboards are
rebadged
In the automotive industry, rebadging is a form of market segmentation used by automobile manufacturers around the world. To allow for product differentiation without designing or engineering a new model or brand (at high cost or risk), a man ...
and sold as other brands. In 1988 Tohatsu and
Brunswick Corporation
Brunswick Corporation, formerly known as the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, is an American corporation that has been developing, manufacturing and marketing a wide variety of products since 1845. Today, Brunswick has more than 13,000 employ ...
set up a joint venture named Tohatsu Marine Corporation to produce outboards for
Mercury Marine
Mercury Marine is a marine engine division of Brunswick Corporation headquartered in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. The main product line is outboard motors. It also produces the MerCruiser line of sterndrives and inboard motors. Some manufacturing ...
. All Mercury outboards with less than 30 HP are rebranded Tohatsus.
In 2011, Tohatsu and
Evinrude Outboard Motors
Evinrude Outboard Motors was a North American company that built a major brand of two-stroke outboard motors for boats. Founded by Ole Evinrude in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1907, it was formerly owned by the publicly traded Outboard Marine Corpor ...
made a deal to make smaller engines ranging from 15 HP and down with Evinrude decals.
All outboard engines sold in North America by the now-defunct
Nissan Marine {{unreferenced, date=April 2008
Nissan Marine began their North American operations in 1984 in Memphis, Tennessee as a division of Nissan Industrial Equipment Co. Over the next 6 years, the Marine Division experienced explosive growth and in 1991 Ni ...
were rebadged Tohatsus.
References
External links
Official global website
Official Russian website
Engineering companies based in Tokyo
Marine engine manufacturers
Engine manufacturers of Japan
Manufacturing companies based in Tokyo
Manufacturing companies established in 1922
1922 establishments in Japan
Japanese brands
Pump manufacturers