Goodbye Toyota Mark2

On December 23, the last in the history of Toyota Mark X sedan rolled off the assembly line at the Toyota Motomachi factory. On this occasion, workers staged an event in which about 200 employees took part, including Hirooshi Ninoyu, the plant’s director and second-generation Mark X chief engineer Takayuki Tomohara

Such farewell ceremonies are not uncommon, although for the most part they are held on a smaller scale, but the Mark X model (a continuation of the Mark 2 model) is significant. The first Toyota Mark II was released in 1968, and for fifty years it (and later its successor Mark X) was Toyota’s main rear-wheel drive sedan. During all this time, 6 518 000 Mark II and 363 500 – Mark X cars were sold. Almost 3.5 million of them were built by Motomachi, the rest were assembled at the Kanto Auto Works Higashi-Fuji and Toyota Motor Kyushu Miyata plants.

Hirooshi Ninu, director of the plant, tells about the significance of the model: “For me, Mark is a very special car, as well as for the whole plant. Probably even the most important car. Chaser and Cresta were discontinued, and the Mark II chose a new life and reincarnated as the magnificent Mark X sedan. ”