Working Toward the Mobility Society of the Future

Business Foundations for Value Creation Corporate Data > Making Ever-better Cars > Initiatives to Achieve Carbon Neutrality Software and Connected Initiatives > Commercial Sector Initiatives > Woven City Message from the President The Source of Our Value Creation: What Makes Us Toyota Value Creation Story: Working toward the Mobility Society of the Future Making Ever-better Cars: From a Starting Point in Motorsports Recently, President Akio Toyoda has often been adding "from a starting point in motorsports" when using the phrase "ever-better car making." He spoke about the idea behind this at the press conference announcing the 2022 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing drivers and management members. I rode in the first of these cars with racer Kamui Kobayashi at Gamagori four months before entering the Super Taikyu 24-hour race. It was while I was in the car that I made up my mind to enter the race. Although four months was hardly enough time for the engineers to prepare, I safely finished the 24-hour race as well as three subsequent races. For each race, they continued to improve the car, mak- ing it stronger and faster. GAZOO.com In 1952, shortly before his death, Toyota founder Kiichiro Toyoda wrote the following. Kiichiro Toyoda "The Japanese automobile production industry must master the art of manufac- turing passenger vehicles. In order to test the durability and performance of their cars, companies ought to participate in auto races, demonstrate the full perfor- mance of their vehicles, and compete for superiority. This will both lead to progress in their vehicles and spark the enthusiasm of automobile fans. Such races must not be regarded as a simple matter of curiosi- ty, for they are indispensable to the devel- opment of Japan's automobile manufacturing industry." I think that these words provide the core principle of "ever-better car making from a starting point in motorsports." There were two cars that led me to this core principle. Forgal The other car is the GR Yaris. We made this car for a specific purpose: to win the World Rally Championship. Until now, Toyota has made its race cars by modifying its mass-production cars. That was the limit of what we could do. The GR Yaris is our attempt to flip this approach by designing a race car from the ground up. From the initial stages of development, we reached out to professional drivers to I have them drive the car. When problems came to light during their drives, they were fixed, and then we had them drive the car again. Development progressed nimbly, and the car evolved into one that is fun to drive. As Morizo (my driver name), I part- nered with this car on the Gamagori dirt course for training to hone my driving skills. Drive it, break it, fix it, strengthen it, drive it again, and break it again. By repeating this process, the engineers not only advanced the car's development, they also changed them- selves. I think that they came to understand Kiichiro's words not just intellectually, but in a deeper, visceral way. TOYOTA Come to think of it, it has been 14 years since Hiromu Naruse and I drove used Altezzas in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring endurance race. Racing on the streets toughens people up and makes cars stron- ger. I want to enable Toyota to make cars that way again. That may be what I have been working toward all along. In 2009, when I became president, I implored our employees to make ever-better cars. Since then, I often get asked what kind of cars are ever-better cars. I have a certain idea of what makes a bet- ter car. It's not necessarily the same as someone else's idea of a better car. What makes a better car depends on the driver. It is for this reason that cars can only be made in the streets and not at a desk. However, back in 2009, not many people understood what I meant by this. It's not enough to simply tell someone that the streets make the car. I knew I had to show them what it means. That's why I continued to take part in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring endurance race. "The streets make cars and toughen people up" became something of a catchphrase. However, changes in car making do not happen so fast. On the front lines, each department was focused on its own specialized area of car making, and they were not handling the over- arching car making process as a united team. That was when I first went to Le Mans. It was the year after the car driven by Kazuki Nakajima, which was in the lead, suffered a mechanical failure just before the finish line. When I dropped into the pit, the drivers talked with me. In a qualifying race, Kamui Kobayashi had seized pole position with an astounding time. He passed the trophy to me while thank- ing me. It made me want to get closer to the drivers and race alongside them. Racing, however, is hard. That year, only Kazuki's car finished the race, with the team coming in 8th overall, and 2nd in its class. The other two cars had to be retired from the race. After the race, the drivers said to me, "We're sorry it won't be at the very top, but would you stand on the winner's podium with us?" LEMANS 24h LUEC 2h WEC 2h The difference between first and second place podium was a height of about 70 cen- timeters. I thought, is this frustration-this second-place podium-the highest we can reach? I desperately wanted to help the drivers stand at the top. I wanted to prove that Toyota could make the kind of strong car that they would want to drive. I swore to myself, standing on that podium one level down, that we would change Toyota to be capable of the kind of car making needed to achieve that, no matter what. TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION 13 INTEGRATED REPORT

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