Toyota disrupted the US car market through a strategy of entering low-margin market niches ignored by incumbents, innovating to make those niches profitable, and then moving upmarket to compete directly with incumbents. Specifically, Toyota entered the US market in 1968 with subcompact cars, then reengineered its manufacturing process using lean techniques to lower costs and increase margins. This allowed Toyota to offer lower-cost, higher-feature cars than incumbents and capture market share across segments. Toyota's example demonstrates how disruptive innovation can involve targeting overlooked niches before competing head-on with existing companies.