It’s time for a strategic change over at Toyota as the Japanese automaker today announced a new framework for vehicle development that will affect all brands within the group with the aim of lowering costs, reducing launch times as well as making its vehicles more appealing both in terms of styling and handling.
A core element of the firm’s new strategy is the development of new global vehicle architectures that are to be shared across the world, a move that Toyota claims will ultimately help in the creation of better cars.
“Cooperation between planning and design divisions will result in a revised vehicle body structure with which new platforms will feature a lower center of gravity and bolder styling,” said Toyota in a statement. “This will help to realize the development of cars with never-before-seen emotional designs and superb handling.”
Toyota noted that the sharing of platforms among different regions will allow the company to handle the development of multiple models simultaneously in grouped projects, which will have the added benefit of lowering costs.
The Japanese automaker said that it will initiate the ‘Toyota New Global Architecture’ with the launch of three front-wheel-drive platforms that will account for as much as half of the company’s worldwide production volume.
In addition to the new platform strategy, Toyota announced an update concerning the role of its chief engineers, who oversee vehicle-development projects. The company said that under its new R&D structure, it will reduce the number of executives who attend internal design review meetings while giving chief engineers greater authority.
Toyota added that it will appoint three regional general managers in its Product Planning Group for 1) North America and China, 2) Japan and Europe, and 3) Australia, Russia, and emerging markets in Asia (except China), the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa.
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