Toyota has been and I believe still is the "wealthiest" in the industry. I worked for the firm back in the late 80's and early 90's (involved with the launch of the last MR2 and Previa). The buzz 'round the office at the time was an article in "Money" circa 1990 that stated Toyota had enough liquid to buy Ford & Chrysler and all is subsidiaries and have a billion left over. The article also stated the only thing that prevented Toyota from over-taking "The Big 3" is the lack of a full size truck and predicted that the soon-to-be-released T-100 would go a long way towards becoming #1 in the US.
That being said, Toyota used that capital to great effect when it came to protecting their brand image. Toyota had it's problems.... rust being a huge one but they always took care of the customer. Over the years they've avoided some issues they probably should've been a recall but they fired new vehicles at the affected customers; the early Tacomas with frame problems is a good example. What Tacoma owner is going to complain about Toyota when their rusting frame issue was solved by getting a brand new Tacoma? Toyota also maintained (and still does) a fleet of yachts in Ft Lauderdale (all called "Gallant Lady") that was used often to take gov'ment people to the Bahamas or just have a smart dinner party.
SET (Southeast Toyota) also maintained a huge legal department that spent most of it's time defending the company from lawsuits brought by Toyota dealers who often claim restraint of trade of other strong-arm tactics. One of the companies under the umbrella was called "The Dealer Development Group" which lent $ to people who couldn't secure bank financing to open or expand a dealership. It was through this group SET ruled with an iron fist since most of the dealers owed their souls to the company store.
I could go on and on..... good times. Personally with the exception of the Jeep I drive now, I've only owned Toyotas but I was sure to trade them in before the rust.
