The Japanese automobile industry has been unique in its investment in foreign large supercomputers, namely Cray systems. This is a direct result of the necessity to deploy software packages such as PAM-crash in automobile crash simulation and certification, but the Cray systems have also been appreciated for their good system balance. At the top of the automobile manufacturers' list we find Mitsubishi Motor Company with a Y-MP/C92A and a Y-MP4 followed by Nissan Motors and Toyota each with a six-processor Y-MP8. Beyond the end of the list there are Kawasaki Motor with a single processor C92, Honda Research with a three-processor Y-MP. Mazda Motor Corporation with two Y-MP/2E systems, and Isuzu Motor and Daihatsu with one of these more affordable Cray computers each. These systems are included here for completeness.
In the list of non-Cray supercomputers installed in the car industry, a variety of domestic systems can be observed. Suzuki Motor Corporation has acquired a S-3800/260, Mazda has a NEC SX-2A, Toyota Motors outside Nagoya is using a VP-2200 and Toyota Central Research Lab has installed a SX-3/14R front-ended by an IBM 3090. Hino Motor possesses an entry-level SX-3. NEC's dominance in this list is partially explained by the availability of the very well tuned LS-Dyna3D crash simulation package as an alternative to PAM-crash. In addition to pure car manufacturing companies one also finds Bridgestone with a Hitachi S3600/180, and beyond the end of the current list there are Toyo Rubber Tyre Company with a recent S-3600/160 and Sumitomo Rubber Industries with an entry-level SX-3.