To continue his teacher's dream, Akio Toyoda is racing in Thailand to show 5 solutions are better than 1
Hans · Dec 15, 2022 05:12 PM
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There are very few bosses of car companies who walk the talk like Toyota’s President Akio Toyoda. While others read out scripted messages prepared by their public relations department, President Toyoda races the cars that carry his family name. He is also a skilled Master Driver who keeps a close watch on his company’s product development process, and it shows.
Recent TNGA platform-based Toyota and Lexus vehicles have such a high level of driver engagement and fluidity in its responses that rivals struggle to match. The recently updated Toyota Camry for example, is one of the best cars we’ve driven in 2022, putting many premium German sedans to shame.
President Toyoda is also very convinced that the rest of the car industry is heading down a wrong, binary right-wrong, one-size-fits-all EV-only future, a stance that Tesla fanatics say is a stalling tactic to keep dirty combustion engines alive – never mind the fact that the United Nations, the body that came up with the 17-point Sustainable Development Goals governing ESG (environment, sustainability, governance) principles, does not believe in replacing its fleet of Toyota Land Cruisers with Teslas.
Toyota also has the world’s biggest database of road conditions across the world, an outcome of its 6-year long Toyota 5 Continents Drive project. Toyota says if clothes maketh man, then roads maketh cars. You can’t build better cars, regardless of powertrain type, if you don’t understand the kind of roads customers have to drive their cars on everyday.
As a company that builds anything from a little Aygo for Europe, to a Vios for South East Asia, Sequoia for the USA, Land Cruiser for the Middle East, Daihatsu Kei cars for Japan, and Hino trucks to service the world’s shipping ports, Toyota cannot bet everything it has on only one solution, and expect it to meet every need. Unlike other manufacturers, Toyota's customer base is just too wide, too varied. Toyota serves the world, not just liberals who live in California or Bangsar-bubble.
A Lexus RZ 450e may work for a banker in Frankfurt or a software engineer in California, but not the Japanese salaryman’s Daihatsu Thor in a Tokyo suburb, where cars are parked outdoors on a vertical stack with no way of doing overnight charging.
A typical car park 'lift' outside a Japanese apartment. Overnight EV charging is physically impossible. Credit: Syume
The vegetable farmer in Cameron Highlands also has very specific needs for his Toyota Hilux, and so does the cattle farmer in the Australian Outbacks in his Land Cruiser.
Toyota didn't say battery EVs are wrong, only that there cannot be the only acceptable solution. For that, Tesla worshippers say he is anti-EV, and he must be silenced, else the polar caps will melt and we will all drown in sea water.
A Toyota Hilux is at the core of Malaysia's Cameron Highlands-grown vegetables supply chain
It’s not just about Toyota's commitment to its customers. Toyota’s trading arm Toyota Tsusho understands the limitations of battery materials sourcing better than many other manufacturers and their lofty volume projections. It has 25 years of experience in procuring batteries and power control electronics, starting with the first Toyota Prius in 1997.
Toyota Tsusho knows electronics and battery supply chain better than nearly everyone else. This little reported competency is also how Toyota managed to mitigate impact of semiconductor parts shortage better than many of its rivals.
In Thailand, Toyota has recently launched the fully electric Toyota bZ4X, with all 1,064 units allocated for Thailand sold out in 1 hour!
It is also trialling the hydrogen fuel-cell electric Mirai with Thailand’s national oil company PTT.
Together with its existing fleet of accessible and practical hybrid vehicles, Toyota wants to show the world that three solutions are better than one, always.
Toyota offers both FCEVs and BEVs in Thailand. The Mirai is now on trial in the city of Pattaya
Instead of letting his public relations staff send out more press releases to repeat the same message, President Akio Toyoda is now in Thailand’s Chang International Circuit in Buriram to prepare for this weekend’s race with a hydrogen-burning (H2) Toyota GR Corolla – the company’s 4th solution for the world’s carbon neutrality needs.
Not to be confused with a hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles, which uses fuel cell stacks to mix hydrogen and oxygen from air to generate electricity, this GR Corolla's 1.6-litre turbocharged 3-cylinder combustion has been adapted to burn hydrogen instead of petrol.
This GR Corolla's turbocharged 1.6-litre 3-cylinder engine has been reengineered to run on hydrogen
This is the same car that had just completed the 5-hour Super Taikyu Race in Autopolis circuit in Oita, Japan, in August 2022.
Toyota’s proposal for the world’s government is this – it is possible to develop a retrofit kit that allow drivers to convert their existing cars to burn clean hydrogen instead of dirty petrol.
Pop quiz: Let's say 100 percent of all new cars sold today are EVs, how long will it take to replace existing cars on the roads with EVs? The answer is 15 years. So why say no to carbon neutral fuels that can achieve zero emission overnight?
Imagine converting all existing vehicles on the road to zero emission overnight, isn’t this a better answer than to use legislation to force consumers to buy a new EV?
Not contended with 4 solutions, Toyota will also be demonstrating a 5th solution in Thailand! A Toyota GR86 that has been converted to burn synthetic fuel. Car #328 (S28) is piloted by Daisuke Toyoda. Yes they are related. Daisuke is Akio's son. Daisuke is the Senior Vice-President of Woven Planet, Toyota's robotics, software, AI, and post-car mobility arm.
Toyota will also be racing a synthetic fuel-burning GR86
Synthetic fuel is basically man-made petrol. Instead of refining crude oil to make petrol, hydrogen is combined with carbon dioxide – preferably using renewable energy, to create a new carbon neutral liquid fuel.
To customers, fueling up with synthetic fuel is no different from fueling up with petrol.
It's a fairly sound plan, but such alternatives annoy EV fanatics a lot. To them, anything outside of Elon Musk's sphere must be stupid
“The enemy is carbon, not combustion engines. So please keep all technology pathways open, don’t limit discussions to just battery EVs” is Toyota’s message.
Earlier in September, President Toyoda was in Belgium to do demonstration runs in the H2 GR Yaris at the Ypres round of the World Rally Championship. Before that, he also did the same in the Rally of Japan.
Like many companies, Toyota is now in a do-or-die push to pivot towards to carbon-neutral era, and developing clean mobility solutions is right at the top of his agenda, and he wants to be personally involved.
This weekend, Akio Toyoda will be racing the same Super Taikyu H2 GR Corolla at the Idemitsu 1500 Super Endurance race in Buriram, Thailand.
If you were to look at the list of competitors, Akio Toyoda’s name is not there, but sharp-eyed enthusiasts will notice that on Rookie Racing’s Car #232 (S32) is a driver named Morizo.
Before he became President, the grandson of Toyota's founder had to race under a fake name, now the Morizo name is stuck
Morizo is Akio Toyoda’s racing pseudonym and Rookie Racing (which is separate from Toyota’s official race team Gazoo Racing) belongs to him, personally.
Why must he hide his name? There is a history behind the Morizo pseudonym.
Unlike Korean chaebols, the Toyoda family no longer owns Toyota and despite being the grandson Toyota's founder Kiichiro Toyoda, Akio is merely an employee that the board can vote to dismiss anytime.
When Akio was a young underling, his enthusiasm for cars and motorsports was deemed by the elders in the company's management as frivolous and risky. Carrying the Toyoda family name didn’t do him much good so he had to find other ways to inject Toyota with some much needed youthful, and somewhat rebellious passion.
Toyota is not a chaebol so the grandson of Toyota's founder was not allowed to race under the Toyota name. So Akio raced under his online used cars project name Gazoo, with the late Hiromu Naruse (right) as his teacher
He was also concerned that Toyota was ill prepared for the coming Internet revolution (this was the mid ‘90s). To prove a point, Akio started an independently-funded online used car sales platform called Gazoo.com. The name is a word play of the Japanese word ‘gazo,’ meaning pictures, referring to the unique selling point of online used car platforms, which offers more pictures than print classifieds.
Outside of work, the young Toyoda was also participating in races in Japan and Europe in a second-hand Toyota Altezza and later an A70 Supra. Since he was not allowed to participate in his capacity as a member of Toyota’s management, he raced under the pseudonym Morizo, a name borrowed from the mascot of the 2005 Aichi World Expo.
Akio’s after office hours' activities was an open secret but Toyota's elders granted him some leeway, so long as he doesn't embarrass or do anything that harms the company's name.
Hiromu Naruse (left) and Akio Toyoda. The A70 Supra, then still reasonably priced, prior to the JDM classics craze, was his 'driving school' car.
His driving mentor was the late Hiromu Naruse, the master driver responsible for the Lexus LF-A, and every sporty Toyota since the 2000 GT. Together, the duo established Gazoo Racing.
Naruse was Morizo's closest confidant in Toyota, probably because like Akio, he was a rebel who was sidelined, and was disliked by traditional Toyota bosses. Naruse didn't give a damn if Akio was the grandson of Toyota's founder.
His first words to Akio were, "Somebody in your position, who doesn’t know the first thing about driving, shouldn’t make passing comments about cars. The least you can do is learn how to drive. You should recognize that, as test drivers, we’re putting our lives on the line to make better cars.
"If you feel like it, even if just once a month, I’ll teach you how to drive," and Akio became his faithful student.
When Akio is racing an experimental car, or in a friendly race, he uses Rookie Racing, a team which he personally owns. If he is racing competitvely, it will be under Toyota Gazoo Racing
Now that Gazoo Racing is the company’s official racing team, Akio has built a sister-team called Rookie Racing, named after his favourite pet terrier dog.
Unlike Gazoo Racing, Rookie Racing’s goal is not to win races, but it’s a racing laboratory to gather data, race cars until they break, so they can build ever-better cars.
This way, Rookie Racing can help young Toyota staff gain experience, experiment with new technologies, while Gazoo Racing focuses on winning races.
The objective is not to win the 25-hour race, but to stress test H2 supply, storage and transport solutions, as well as high speed refueling (pit stop)
There are many, especially Tesla fanatics who want to see Akio fail, but if you love cars, you must root for Morizo.
Few outside of Toyota understand President Akio Toyoda’s conviction and resolve the make ever-better cars, to make cars that bring joy to our lives.
Akio could've easily followed what every other manufacturer is doing - make soulless smartphones on wheels that people throw will away every few years, abandon his loyal customers because EV fanatics say this is the only acceptable way forward.
Why bother going on this difficult path alone (except for BMW, Toyota's only friend in FCEVs)? Because that's not what his late teacher Naruse would be happy with.
Fast golf carts are not cars Akio wants to wake up every day for. If there is a 1 percent chance he can keep combustion engines alive by using carbon neutral fuels, he will go for it. His love for cars says its worth it.
After finishing the 2019 24 Hours of Nurburgring, in a GR Supra, Akio gave a tearful speech to his team, because it was the 9th anniversary of the passing of Hiromu Naruse.
Akio Toyoda is the only car company boss skilled enough to complete the 24 Hours of Nurburgring
“Thirteen years ago, we could not even use the Toyota name; our team comprised basically two people—Naruse and myself—and we participated in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring with a homegrown team with fewer members than most privateer teams.
“Back then, I was overcome by various disappointments—the disappointment of not receiving any support; the disappointment of not being taken seriously, no matter what we did; the disappointment of being belittled, no matter what we did; and the disappointment of having to run a Supra model that was no longer in production.
“I was appointed president on June 23, 2009, and ever since Naruse passed away, exactly one year later on June 23, 2010, all these disappointments have remained with me continually.
“These disappointments are why all I do is repeat the mantra “let us make ever-better cars.”
"Even today, I still feel regret and shed tears. These disappointments have been a source of our strength, pushing us to create like-minded companions sharing the same goal, and to make ever-better cars. These thoughts were on my mind when I started by thanking you all today.”
I am not sure about you, but Akio Toyoda’s deep conviction to build ever-better cars, because he wants to continue the unfinished dream of his late teacher Hiromu Naruse, who left this world too early, moves me. By the way, UMW Toyota Motor’s new tagline is Move Your World.
There is no green mobility without supporting public transport. Toyota is deploying single seater electric pods in Thailand as a last-mile/first-mile commuters in Thailand. The Toyota COMS (left) links to BTS / MRT stations in Bangkok while Toyota C+Pod is available in Pattaya
H2 engines: H2 GR Yaris, H2 GR Corolla, H2 Corolla Cross (all prototypes)
Synthetic fuels: GR86 CNF (prototype)
Public transport: e-Pallet (Tokyo Olympics demo), i-Road, C+Pod and COMS (both deployed in Thailand)
Mobility assistance: Partner robots, Human Support robots
Beyond mobility assistance robots, there's also some spin-off tech that Toyota is quietly rolling out at hopsitals, to aid rehabilitation of stroke patients. More on that in the link below.
Over 15 years of experience in automotive, from product planning, to market research, to print and digital media. Garages a 6-cylinder manual RWD but buses to work.
