The is a small car manufactured by the Japanese company Toyota from 1961 until 1978. Conceived as a family car to fulfill the requirements of the Japanese Government's "national car concept", it was the smallest Toyota car during that period and was superseded in that role by the Toyota Starlet, which itself started out as a version of the Publica. It was available as a 2-door vehicle only, but in a selection of body styles, ranging from the base sedan through a station wagon, convertible, coupé and even a coupe utility (pickup), which outlived the other models by a decade, and spawned other models, such as the Toyota Sports 800 and the Toyota MiniAce.
Development
MITI "national car" concept
The origins of the Publica can be traced to the "national car" concept of the powerful Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), which was announced in 1955. The concept stipulated for a vehicle fulfilling several requirements, like maximum speed over , weight below , fuel consumption not exceeding at the average speed of on a level road, but also notably the requirement that the car would not break down or require significant repairs for at least .
From concept to reality
Although Eiji Toyoda was initially keen to take advantage of the, at that time innovative, FF concept (front-mounted engine with front-wheel drive), it proved technically too complicated for Toyota engineers to be able to complete within the allotted time, so the decision was made to switch to more conventional FR layout. The Publica was inspired by the successful Citroën 2CV which also used a 2-cylinder, air-cooled, horizontally opposed engine, with front-wheel drive. In spite of the fact that the government sources announced that significant tax breaks would be made for cars with engine displacements of less than 500 cc, Toyota decided that such a small engine would provide insufficient power on the highways, and increased the planned displacement to 700 cc. The resulting engine was an air-cooled 697 cc ohv 2-cylinder boxer which produced , and was known internally as the Toyota U engine. The tax incentives did not materialize; the displacement did qualify in the lowest annual road tax bracket, thus helping sales. In 1966 Toyota began to acquire kei car manufacturer Daihatsu.
The new car was given a two-door sedan body, which was intended to accommodate four people and a significant amount of luggage in the trunk, thus fulfilling the projected expectations of the customers. The car had a double wishbone suspension in the front and semi-elliptical leaf springs in the rear.
The name "Publica" was chosen with reference to the English phrase "public car", referring to the car's intended attainability and popularity. Due to lack of distinction between the "l" and "r" consonants in Japanese the name can be sometimes misinterpreted as paprika. The name is transliterated as "パブリカ" in Katakana, literally paburika.
P10 series
The new car was given the internal designation of "UP10" and the market name of "Publica" and was sold through a new dealer network, separate from the previous "Toyota" and "Toyopet" dealerships, called Toyota Publica Store (later renamed as Toyota Corolla Store). Sales began in June 1961, with the basic price of . Initially, the car was very basic, lacking even such basic options like a radio or even a heater. This limited its appeal to the consumers, which were perceiving the automobile as an aspirational good and expected it to exude a much more luxurious impression.
The now defunct Central Motors produced the Publica convertible from October 1963.
Further development of the UP10 series
In 1962, a two-door "light van" version was added, essentially a station wagon but classified as a commercial vehicle in Japan. A derivative model, Toyota Sports 800 (marketed initially as "Publica Sport") debuted at the 1962 Tokyo Motor Show. In 1963 Toyota added a new Deluxe trim level, denoted internally as "type UP10D", which featured such "luxuries" as reclining seats, Combustion heater or radio, as well as some chrome decors (the previous base model was now called Standard). With the appearance of the Deluxe, demand finally picked up, and when the convertible model was added the same year, sales of the Publica finally reached the target level of 3000–4000 monthly. In February 1964, a coupe utility (pickup) model joined the lineup, and in September the engine got a power boost to , while the Deluxe trim level was also made available for the wagon version.
In November 1964, it was introduced in Canada as one of the first two Toyota models available in the country, the other being the S40 Crown.
