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Toyota's Roads to the Present.Kiichiro Toyoda, founder of the Toyoda Motor Corporation, Was born in 1894. His father Sakichi Toyoda became famous as the inventor of automatic loom. Inheriting the spirit of research and creation from his father, Kiichiro devoted his entire life to the manufacturing of cars, which was an unknown frontier at that time. After years of hard work, he finally succeeded in completing in the A1 prototype vehicle in 1935. That was the beginning of the history of the Toyota Motor Corporation. Toyota marked the milestone of its 70th anniversary in 2007 with a wide range of projects aimed at building a stronger foundation toward great advances in the future. On the product front, the Lexus LS Hybrid went on sale in Japan in May and was steadily introduced in other countries around the world. The new Corolla was launched in Japan in 2006 and introduced in China and other overseas markets in 2007. In addition, in Japan, Toyota endeavored to carefully respond to the varied needs of its customers and to contribute to market expansion and economic stimulation by actively launching more new models than in 2006. In manufacturing, Camry production began in April 2007 at Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. (SIA), the North American production base of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. And in December, a new plant began operation in Russia. Also, plans are underway to begin production at new plants in Thailand and China. Toyota is continuing to promote further localization, based on the principle of producing vehicles in those countries or regions where demand exists. In Japan, Toyota equipped Takaoka Plant with a completely upgraded production line, positioning it as a model of innovative manufacturing that employs the company’s most-advanced technologies. Furthermore, in line with the expansion of its business worldwide, Toyota is carrying out human resources development from a global perspective and strengthening its localization efforts with greater autonomy for its local subsidiaries. In R&D, Toyota is continuing to focus its efforts in the three key areas of the environment, safety and energy. In particular, Toyota has positioned hybrid technologies as core technologies that can contribute to resolving environmental issues and it continues to undertake development with a commitment to leading the advancement of such technologies. Toyota is enhancing its hybrid vehicle lineup and also engaging in research and development for plug-in hybrids. Also, in May, as part of its response to energy diversification, Toyota launched in Brazil a flex fuel vehicle (a vehicle capable of running on fuel that consists of any percentage of ethanol mixed with gasoline, or on ethanol alone) that can run on 100% bio-ethanol fuel.In July of this year the G8 summit will be held at Lake Toya in Japan, and it is expected that greater attention will be focused both within Japan and overseas on environmental issues. Environmental initiatives are a priority issue for the automotive industry, and, as a part of its efforts to contribute to the sustainable development of society and the earth in the future, Toyota announced last year its commitment to pursuing sustainability in three specific areas: research and development, manufacturing and social contribution. Toyota will continue this year to tackle measures addressing environmental issues with a focus on these three areas of sustainability. In many ways the automobile industry is nearing a major turning point. For example, automobile manufacturers must adapt to the expansion in the automobile markets of emerging and resource-rich countries such as BRICs; they must adapt to increasingly stricter regulations, such as the U.S. Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations and Europe’s CO2 regulations; and they must adapt to all of this amid greater competition in the global market. At the same time, Toyota recognizes that to preserve its position within society it must achieve growth that maintains a balance between its corporate activities and environmental preservation, as well as between volume and quality. In light of all of this, Toyota sought to establish a qualitative, future vision of itself, based on its fundamental principles, through the creation last year of the “Toyota Global Vision 2020”. |