Koyari

After many years of requesting to be involved in Land Cruiser development, I was finally transferred to the product planning division in 2001. Right away, Watanabe, who was the Land Cruiser’s chief engineer at the time, sent me to meet with customers in the Middle East, so I set off. This was back when Dubai only had about two skyscrapers. The experience gave me an immediate understanding of the trust customers place in the Land Cruiser.  The Land Cruiser 40 Series launched in 1960

Derived from the 40 Series, the Land Cruiser 55 Series debuted in 1967 as the first generation station wagon

The second-generation station wagon the Land Cruiser 60 Series released in 1980

The 70 Series, the first generation of Heavy Duty models, debuted in 1984 as the successor to the 40 Series

The Middle East is known for its deserts. In the region’s largest country, Saudi Arabia, a single highway stretches through the desert to link the capital Riyadh with the commercial hub of Jeddah, a distance of some 920 to 930 kilometers. Locals barrel down that road as fast as possible in temperatures above 50 degrees Celsius. In that heat, you want to head straight for the destination and avoid stopping at all costs.

The country’s south, meanwhile, is mountainous, with punishing mountain roads that run along the borders between the various nations on the Arabian Peninsula. Along the flat desert coastlines of the UAE and Oman, Land Cruisers are used by seine fishermen to haul in nets, and also as vehicles for the police or sightseeing tours through the desert. In short, the Land Cruiser is a car that sustains the lifestyles of local people.

Visiting the area gave me a firsthand sense of why drivers continue to seek “Land Cruiser-ness”, the core attributes that we have cultivated since the first generation – reliability, durability, and drivability on rough terrain.

More than 50 years on, a 40 Series Land Cruiser continues to haul fishing nets in a UAE fishing village

Yokoo

In 2014, when Koyari was chief engineer for all three series (Station Wagon, Heavy Duty, Prado), I transferred from the drivetrain design team to the department that oversees overall vehicle development.

As I was wondering how they would give me an overview of the entire development process, my first assignment was to visit Australia. This was within the framework of the 5 Continents Drive Project*, which has unfortunately been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For development engineers such as myself, seeing local conditions for ourselves revealed countless things that we never would have known by staying in the office.

*Based on the “roads train people, and people make cars” ethos that underpins Toyota’s motorsports activities, this project involves Toyota employees driving across five continents as a way to “make ever-better cars” by developing the people who build them. A convoy of Land Cruisers drives through Africa as part of the 5 Continents Drive Project

In Australia, for example, one customer who runs a crocodile park told us how Land Cruisers had helped his business grow since the very beginning. The inland areas, known as “the outback”, contain many graded yet unpaved roads, some rutted to resemble washboards, others where visibility is obscured by dust for several minutes whenever a car passes along.

Meanwhile, rains can cause streams that cut across roads. Locals spend hours tearing down these unbelievably rough roads. That’s how our cars are used. It might sound strange, but the experience showed me the reality and the context behind the Land Cruiser’s reputation among customers as a vehicle that allows them to go anywhere & everywhere and come back alive and safe.

Koyari

Though not exactly history repeating itself, the team learned from the story of Heikuro Magaki, an early Edo-period equestrian master who climbed the stairs of the Atago Shrine on horseback. Upon checking the site, they found that handrails would pose a problem, so they took the Land Cruiser to attempt similar stone steps at Mt. Fudo in Okazaki City.

Just as Heikuro had done, test driver Heiichiro and his team achieved the spectacular feat by ascending and descending in a zigzag manner. That shows how much confidence they had in the Land Cruiser they had built.

As the person who gave the Land Cruiser its name, Umehara’s faith and love for the car ran deeper than most, but it also stemmed from the model’s rocky start. It was based on the bitterness of being rejected by the American military, rather than immediately winning trust.

Umehara said that “a car without (the developer’s) confidence will not inspire trust”. When the Crown was struggling with quality issues on the freeways in the American market, at a time when Toyota had established itself in the U.S. but cars weren’t selling, our sole success was the Land Cruiser.

As a side note, Toyota named its announced lunar rover the “Lunar Cruiser”. It is intended as a counterpart to the terrestrial Land Cruiser, a second “cruiser” that will run on the surface of the moon. The news made me swell with emotion, to see how highly Toyota regards the Land Cruiser.

Sadayoshi Koyari

Project General Manager, MS Product Planning, Mid-size Vehicle Company

Koyari joined Toyota Motor Corporation in 1985. As part of Engineering Division 1, he worked on chassis design for the Hilux and Land Cruiser Prado. From 1996, he was responsible for product development at Toyota Development Center 3; Since 2001, Koyari was involved in product development for the Land Cruiser and the new frame platform as Project General Manager. In 2007, he was appointed Chief Engineer at Toyota Development Center 1, and is currently in charge of the Land Cruiser 70 Series and the Land Cruiser Prado.

Takami Yokoo

Project General Manager, MS Product Planning, Mid-size Vehicle Company

Yokoo joined Toyota Motor Corporation in 2000. As part of the Drivetrain Design Division, he was involved in differential design for the Land Cruiser and Land Cruiser Prado, and torque vectoring system development for the Lexus RC F. From 2014, Yokoo was responsible for ZJ product development at the Product Planning Division; in 2017, he handled minor changes for the Land Cruiser Pardo before being assigned ZJ Project General Manager in 2019. Currently, Yokoo is in charge of the Land Cruiser 300 Series.

Yokoo

This may sound exaggerated, but when I think of the Land Cruiser today, I see it as a car that sustains the lives and livelihoods of people all over the world, from Africa, the Middle East, Australia and other markets to the polar regions.

What’s required of the Land Cruiser is a car that can go anywhere & everywhere and come back alive and safe. We’ve tried to make the 300 Series the best car that it can be. Technological and environmental changes may redefine the optimal solution, as the needs of our customers and the earth continue to evolve.

Yokoo

_Genchi genbutsu_ means visiting the harsh environments where Land Cruisers are used, seeing them for yourself, and learning what it is like to be in these desperate situations where people’s lives are at stake. From that starting point, I think the next development keyword is “real vehicle evaluation”.

Today, simulation technology has progressed and, with improved analytical capabilities, found its way into all aspects of automotive development. If you needed to, you could create a car with that alone, to an extent.

To develop the Land Cruiser, however, we have vehicle evaluation specialists drive the actual cars to find and fix anything that breaks, in a way that would not be possible through simulation. Most importantly, we need to check what conditions cause things to break.

Yokoo

In developing a new model, we must meet various targets, and of course consider cost in all areas. Whenever we have to weigh up trade-offs, such as eliminating one thing to go over cost on another, for the Land Cruiser the non-negotiable aspects that must be maintained are very clear.

If you only drive the car on well-paved roads in developed countries, the quality will be excessive in some areas. It’s not difficult to set numerical targets for reliability. But if from the outset you need to match or surpass the previous model, it instantly raises the difficulty.

For example, if the 300 Series struggles with environments that didn’t pose trouble for the existing 200, this is not only a drop in performance but potentially life-threatening for the customer. That’s why we have a lot to do, or rather, a lot to break. Our mission with the Land Cruiser is to continue evolving by overcoming each one of these challenges.

Koyari

Trust is the ultimate result you can obtain from customers in the market. The 40 Series has been manufactured and used for 24 years, the 70 Series for 37. This is something I’m conscious of because I've experienced the Land Cruiser’s 50th and 60th anniversaries, but how did earlier generations of engineers develop the car?

In terms of repairability and spare parts, if you dig around you'll find a surprising number of parts shared among each series, such as the 20-40-55 series and the 40-60-70 series. To put it another way, as model cycles for each generation become longer and the cars spread around the world, repairability improves.

For example, parts from an old wreck in the back of a demolition shop can be used to get another car back on the road. All of these elements help to boost reliability.

Yokoo

Above all, the key is designing a Land Cruiser that can sustain the basic functions – driving, turning, stopping – for as long as possible. In an extreme case, you could manage to come back alive even without bumpers, body panels, or a roof.

That’s why, even though monocoque structures that integrate chassis and body are now common in SUVs, for the new 300 Series we stuck to the body-on-frame arrangement, where the cabin is installed on a ladder frame using rubber mounts, which allows us to create a stronger chassis.

The newest feature of the 300 Series is the use of an entirely new platform based on the TNGA (Toyota New Global Architecture) design concept, part of Toyota’s comprehensive efforts to make ever-better cars.

The 300 Series had its world premiere on June 10 as the successor to the 200 Series launched in 2007

The major change for this 300 Series is how it feels to drive. I often describe it as ‘stress-free’. The Station Wagon-type Land Cruisers are certainly not small, but we have made this one even lighter than the 200 Series, with a lower center of gravity.

By doing so we were able to create a car that drives and handles like something that fits in the palm of your hand, whether on-road or off-road. I think that’s what sets the 300 Series apart.

Sadayoshi Koyari

Project General Manager, MS Product Planning, Mid-size Vehicle Company

Koyari joined Toyota Motor Corporation in 1985. As part of Engineering Division 1, he worked on chassis design for the Hilux and Land Cruiser Prado. From 1996, he was responsible for product development at Toyota Development Center 3; Since 2001, Koyari was involved in product development for the Land Cruiser and the new frame platform as Project General Manager. In 2007, he was appointed Chief Engineer at Toyota Development Center 1, and is currently in charge of the Land Cruiser 70 Series and the Land Cruiser Prado.

Takmai Yokoo

Project General Manager, MS Product Planning, Mid-size Vehicle Company

Yokoo joined Toyota Motor Corporation in 2000. As part of the Drivetrain Design Division, he was involved in differential design for the Land Cruiser and Land Cruiser Prado, and torque vectoring system development for the Lexus RC F. From 2014, Yokoo was responsible for ZJ product development at the Product Planning Division; in 2017, he handled minor changes for the Land Cruiser Pardo before being assigned ZJ Project General Manager in 2019. Currently, Yokoo is in charge of the Land Cruiser 300 Series.

Wakisaka

The steering is nimble, with none of the kickback that occurs when it gets caught on uneven surfaces. In terms of ride comfort, you don’t get that sudden upward thrust. The traction itself has also clearly improved, with all four wheels kicking out the dirt.

Ueno

When the driver applies the brakes, the left and right tires brake equally, but Crawl Control regulates the braking force on each of the four wheels independently to maintain the car's stability and prevent sideslipping on downhill runs. The driver can concentrate on controlling the steering without pressing the gas pedal or brake pedal.

Ueno

We call that the ‘head toss’, the strong impact that shakes your head side to side in rough off-road conditions. Of course, it’s not too bad in the 200 Series either, but the new Land Cruiser 300 Series is even better at keeping all four wheels in contact with the ground. Because we tend to feel a large impact when tires lose contact and then return to the surface, keeping wheels on the ground lessens those shocks.

Yokoo

Overseas, many users drive long distances, even off-road. Reducing driver fatigue directly increases the chance of them coming back alive and safe.

Miura

Compared to the intense environment going by outside the window, the swaying you actually feel inside the car is almost impossibly soft. The 200 Series is also an excellent off-road vehicle, but the 300 Series is on another level. It holds the road even better, which means the tires stay on the ground longer.

When the tires are up in the air, all a driver can do is wait for them to return to the ground. What if we make it into a rally car? I think it would be even stronger.

Osaka

The keyword is ‘ease of driving’. This was the clue to combining the Land Cruiser’s high level of reliability, durability, and drivability on rough terrain, which had been built up thanks to our customers, with what our on-road development staff call a ‘natural feel’. Using new technology, I believe we were able to achieve both off-road performance and a natural on-road driving feel.

Ueno

Turning 70 this year, the Land Cruiser has a long history – the model name has been around longer than any other at Toyota. I personally drive a Land Cruiser as well. The car is loved by customers around the world, and I think the way it has connected with people, those intangible assets, are a key part of the vehicle.

Osaka

If Morizo is the owner-chef, then my part in the development of Toyota’s various models is to ensure that each one delivers the taste that he seeks. The Land Cruiser felt like a car that had already earned the trust of customers around the world through the diverse ways it had been used.

My role was to bring something extra to the Land Cruiser’s core of reliability, durability, and drivability on rough terrain – to achieve even greater comfort and ease of use.

Osaka

The Land Cruiser development team is very open-minded, with a history of welcoming staff from somewhat different backgrounds, such as us. I think it comes from the desire to create a better Land Cruiser.

Miura

The Land Cruiser is a car that makes the impossible possible. I love motorsports, but to begin with, I was not a professional driver. This car has enabled people like me to tackle the grueling Dakar race, to the point where we can now post competitive times. I can tell you from personal experience that this car makes the impossible possible.

Wakisaka

That test drive earlier, that was quite a surprise, wasn’t it? This may not mean much coming from an amateur off-roader such as myself, but I felt like it was of another level.

Miura

Indeed. When you take such a large car off-road, you have to expect some serious shaking. This jolts the body as well, so the driver has to brace themselves with their arms and legs. Inside the 300 Series, however, even off-road the shaking was so gentle that it almost felt like an anticlimax.

On top of that, the driving position is also more natural than in the 200 Series, so it feels like driving a sports car. When driving off-road, you can operate the car naturally in constantly changing environments and surface conditions.

In that sense, I found it easy to drive. It made me realize that, until now, I had unconsciously written off this aspect as an inevitable part of designing the Land Cruiser for durability and performance on rough terrains.

Wakisaka

Let me put it this way – there’s a good mismatch between the view through the front window and the movement of the vehicle. From inside the car, even big gaps feel like you’re clearing tiny potholes. But when you see it from the outside, the suspension is at full stroke to maintain contact with the road.

The 300 Series also has more power steering assist, which makes the steering lighter, but manages to retain feedback from the road and a natural feel when driving. It achieves a high-level balance between seemingly conflicting requirements. What development approach made this possible?

Yokoo

I think many factors contributed, but in my mind the biggest was the fact that, for the first time, we were able to establish a new TNGA (Toyota New Global Architecture) platform for a ladder-frame vehicle.

We started with a driving position that allows easy operation in a natural posture, then lowered the center of gravity as much as possible to ensure the vehicle body moves smoothly.

In past models, the shock absorbers were slightly out of alignment with tire movement when stroking, and we were able to optimize this for the 300 Series by bending the frame a little. Revamping the frame made many things possible.

Osaka

Since the introduction of TNGA, C&N (Confident and Natural) has been a key concept in vehicle production. In other words, the driver should naturally be able to feel safe and worry-free.

Morizo sees this idea as the unwavering core of our development. I think this concept overlays neatly with the “reliability” that has been passed down through the many generations of Land Cruiser.

Ueno

The ‘ease of driving’ marks the greatest advance from the 200 Series to the 300 Series. As with past models, we’ve tried to make the car as long-lasting as possible. But this time, I think the added C&N perspective brought by Osaka’s team allowed us to reach the point where it’s obvious from the moment you get behind the wheel.

On top of that, with new technology we’ve been able to accomplish things that were previously beyond us, such as the steering actuator and the mounting position of the rear suspension on the ladder frame. That’s another big factor.

Ueno

I do think there is a common thread. With the Land Cruiser, we have always sought to create better cars by listening to the voices of customers and reflecting on breakdown conditions that we were unable to anticipate.

In the case of the Land Cruiser, we learn from the customer, but just like the Nürburgring 24-hour race, our cars are forged in harsh environments, and those experiences live on in the way our cars drive.

Osaka

While I haven’t driven in extreme conditions such as the Nürburgring with the Land Cruiser, I have worked with the development team to gain what information we can from the car, to enable us to dialogue with the car.

In past Land Cruisers, on-road movement had been toned down, which has its upsides, but also requires the driver to anticipate and control the car's behavior.

For the 300 Series, we used new actuator technology to lighten the steering, while the GR Sport features e-KDSS, an electronic control stabilizer that stops rolling on-road and lets the car really stretch its legs when off-road.

We also worked to ensure that the vehicle’s movements do not lag behind the driver's actions, and I believe this has resulted in a car that feels very natural to control.

Wakisaka

In your position, how do you view test drivers like Osaka and Ueno?

Yokoo

I see them as teachers. I first met Osaka while designing the drivetrain for the Lexus RC F. When I asked him to test the system I had made, I was very impressed with his ideas about the behavior of the car and the car itself.

After that, I was approached by (Sadayoshi) Koyari, who is still chief engineer for the Land Cruiser Prado and 70 Series, and moved to the development team, where I met Ueno. As it turned out, I didn’t know anything about off-road driving. Things like not putting your fingers inside the steering wheel (to avoid being injured by the reaction force), or taking your foot off the brake when going downhill.

Ueno was the person who taught me that the Land Cruiser is a car that must tackle the harshest roads to sustain the lives of our customers.

Ueno

These values have been inherited by each new generation of Land Cruiser because the words have been passed down by their developers. Yokoo, his predecessor Koyari, and all of the other chief engineers have shared their vision with the development team. In that sense, Land Cruiser development really feels like being part of one unified team.

Yokoo

When I first moved into my current role, the general feeling was that people who didn’t know the Land Cruiser shouldn't be involved in product planning. In frame development, for example, we have people who are like walking encyclopedias.

Besides the individual parts, of course you also need to know how the frame fits into the car as a whole. I tried to adapt to the team while learning as much as I could from those around me.

But as Ueno says, everyone on the Land Cruiser development team has a really strong vision, so it’s rare for the overall vision to stray in the wrong direction.

Wakisaka

The Toyota Standard is a quality standard that all Toyota vehicles must meet, but I heard that the Land Cruiser also has its own additional standards.

Ueno

Yes, there are Land Cruiser standards that are separate from the TS (Toyota Standard). Land Cruisers have always been honed by our customers around the world.

While we seek to develop the best possible car for each new model, we also receive a great deal of feedback from customers once it is in their hands. To further exceed their expectations, the Land Cruiser standards were developed on top of TS.

We ensure that our development meets those standards, in terms of durability and reliability. Even so, because our customers use the cars in such diverse ways, we remain constantly tuned in to their feedback.

Yokoo

Really, it stems from the need to protect the Land Cruiser’s value as a “companion that can go where you want, when you want, and come back safely", which has remained strong for 70 years. Each new model must outperform the previous in those three areas of reliability, durability, and drivability on rough terrain.

When developing the 200 Series, I challenged myself to make the front differential case aluminum. The goal was to reduce weight, but this sparked a big debate within the development team on whether we really should be using aluminum.

To answer that question, we spent some two years conducting tests to break the differential. If we saw a boulder, we would run the test car into it. We wanted something that could withstand such punishment. That’s what it took to get the job done.

Wakisaka

Do you enjoy being asked to break things?

Ueno

They don't have to tell me, I'll break it anyway. This approach has been taken up by each new generation of test drivers.

Environments that are completely unexpected in Japan may be normal elsewhere in the world. For the Land Cruiser, we try to account for such unexpected environments in our testing. I think Yokoo also wants to see us break everything.

In testing, we don’t hesitate to point out something that’s wrong. I think this system works because we share a mutual understanding in that respect.

Yokoo

As you can imagine, with a full model change and weight reduction, we need to break the car to ensure that it is safe in collisions. In recent years, especially in motorsports with the GR Yaris, the development approach has focused on that cycle of breaking and fixing.

With the Land Cruiser, we have to break everything to move forward. I feel that both the Land Cruiser and the GR Yaris link back to the same place.

Miura

The plan is to put it in the Dakar Rally in 2023. We have already started developing it as a rally car – right now, we are pulling the car apart, rebuilding the body and chassis to conform with the rules, and programming the engine for rally driving.

We might be ready for shakedown as early as this fall, and I’m sure it will show us something new that we haven’t seen in the 200 Series.

Saito

I think what Morizo tried to do was to completely overturn our engineers' attitudes. The level of evaluations that Morizo makes is in controlling a vehicle after pushing the wheels beyond their limit at speeds and Gs (during acceleration and cornering) that Toyota would never test its vehicles for.

When we got him to drive our GR Yaris first prototype, the development team was full of confidence. However, he began telling us that it was maybe impossible for Toyota to develop a sports car, or that we should perhaps leave it up to Subaru to develop a 4WD sports car. That's how disappointed he was with our car. That's how it all began.

Saito

I totally agree. At Toyota, we have the TS (Toyota Standard = A quality standard that Toyota cars must meet), but until then, the high speeds and Gs encountered in the world of racing had been treated as exceptions. We used to regard such vehicles that undergo special modifications made by special people.

On the other hand, European manufacturers were using the same standards to not only develop sports cars, but also production cars.

Saito

When you look back on the history of Toyota, the idea of making a production car from a racing car was already stated by Kiichiro Toyoda, the founder of the company, who said, ‘Auto racing is vital to the development of cars.' This was exactly the kind of thing that motorsports and automobile development had to focus on.

Koyari

Toyota was a passenger vehicle company when I joined, but I was involved in making cars for commercial use. They're fundamentally different from passenger cars in that you have to prioritize their reliability and durability. These are the two factors that are indispensable to customers in using their vehicles in daily life and for work.

Of course, in the Land Cruiser, we strived in pursuit of drivability on rough terrain right from the start. So, we cherished the idea of “not launching a product that we weren't confident of,” which was also necessary in developing passenger vehicles.

These were the words of Hanji Umehara who developed the 1st-generation BJ model, and they've been passed down through successive generations of people in the Land Cruiser development team.

Our aim has been to ultimately convey our confidence to our customers and win their trust. I think it's this belief that has been shared by generations of people involved in the development of the Land Cruiser.

Koyari

Passenger vehicle users generally have good access to services in the environments in which they live, but Land Cruisers are driven every day in places where no one would come to rescue you if it breaks down.

Both the 40 Series and 70 Series are old models, but their reliability is growing by the year. It’s been 37 years since the 70 Series debuted, but they have constantly undergone kaizen (continuous improvement) during this time. So, their reliability is not something that was developed over just five, ten years.

To be honest with you, not all Land Cruiser owners are fully satisfied with their vehicles as they use the vehicles in demanding conditions. But in the end, they all say that they couldn’t find a better car. That’s why I must never become self-satisfied, or I can’t offer my customers safety and security. That’s why I have to stay on my toes all the time in developing the Land Cruiser.

Saito

Both on-road and off-road, racing drivers are quick to find weaknesses in vehicles that are difficult to identify because they are compensated for by the performance of tires. They check the movements of the vehicle by working the accelerator in various ways after pushing it beyond its limit. That’s an ability unique to racing drivers, including their ability to push the vehicle “until it breaks” during races.

Meanwhile, our test drivers evaluate vehicles within the range of conditions that our customers use them in, including their upper limit. The cars are tested from both directions to the point where the conditions overlap.

When the range of speeds and Gs are plotted on a graph, you can see that the two types of data are completely separate from one another and the problems that surface are also different. But dealing with the problems identified by the racing driver also leads to improvements in areas that were found by the test driver to be problematic. The problems are inter-related.

For example, the racing driver may say there was a problem with understeering, while the test driver finds a problem with oversteering. But their steering speeds and braking forces at the time of entering a corner are different.

So, even though their opinions may be mutually opposing, you look at the data and you can see that there is oversteering under a certain range of conditions, and understeering under a separate range of conditions, allowing you to verify the consistency of the phenomenon. This then leads to the implementing of countermeasures in the suspensions or drive system or whatever.

That’s the kind of thing that we engineers were unaware of, and it’s the result of Morizo telling us to learn from the world of racing

Koyari

In terms of the developmental philosophy of ‘roads training people,’ our Land Cruiser test drivers can’t fulfill their role unless they’re experts on roads. To test the vehicles, they must drive the cars off-road, and on roads used daily by customers throughout the world, to grasp a good understanding of the environments in which they are used.

Land Cruiser models are sold for a long time in one generation, extending the period of kaizen activities after their launch. On the other hand, the staff of development teams are transferred to other departments, so the passing on of knowhow on evaluating their drivability on rough terrain had been an important issue.

I had some concerns about fostering the human resources for this, but Takanobu Fukuoka (currently at Toyota Customizing & Development Co., Ltd.), who has been involved in the development of the Land Cruiser for over 37 years as a test driver, developed a certification system divided into three levels to try and standardize off-road driving skills.

Koyari

In _monozukuri_, it’s important to have the ability to realize your own ideas, which is exactly what Fukuoka had.

For example, in developing the turn assist control, he manually made a vehicle with handbrakes that could be operated separately on the left and right, and verified its characteristics. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Fukuoka is responsible for proposing and testing the entire vehicle control system installed in our recent Prados and the latest 300 Series. He came up with ideas for functions that he wanted, then he would think about how he could turn them into mechanisms for realizing them. Fukuoka had the ability to give shape to rules and principles.

Test drivers come up with a lot of ideas on-site, and people who’ve been working on-site for a long time are good at improvising. We need people who have the ability to devote themselves to their ideas.

Saito

In the past, we used to make a prototype first, then hold meetings with the people in charge of production engineering (PE) to prepare for production and begin manufacturing.

Of course, this required a long time, but in the case of the GR Yaris, we had PE engineers take part from the developmental stage. We looked at racing cars being made on-site, and worked together coming up with ideas on how to make racing cars that prioritized performance during the production processes at factories.

Saito

Our production processes were prepared with PE engineers after seeing how racing teams involved in rallies and circuit racing made their cars in preparation for races. The challenge was to realize precision and weight savings equivalent to those of racing cars during the process of manufacturing production cars while keeping our investment level or costs. This would have been impossible to achieve if development had been carried out first with production processes being prepared after in the conventional way.

Saito

If you ask something to be made in a particular way after completion of development, people will normally have difficulty understanding why. But with the GR Yaris, we were able to share Morizo’s vision for what he wanted to do in making a car right from the start, with the members of the production team.

We gave all the members in charge of assembly at the factory a chance to test drive the GR Yaris, and many of them actually drove the car. Before the cars come off the production line, each and every person involved in production is acutely aware of Morizo’s intentions. I think that’s what Morizo wanted to achieve in implementing his reforms with the aim of making ever-better cars.

Koyari

The Land Cruiser is renowned for its ladder frame, whose evolution is synonymous with the evolution of the Land Cruiser itself. But as a general rule, a ladder frame structure tends to make the car heavy, and there was a need to make the frame itself lighter and stronger.

On-site welders also came up with ideas for the lighter ladder frame deployed in the new 300 Series. Specifically, the steel material used in the frame was changed at key points and joined together like patchwork. Members of different thickness and rigidity were used at key points. They were welded together and bent by presses into integrated frames. So, there is no waste.

In the past, the plate thickness of the part that required the greatest durability was decided in advance, and the entire frame was made based on this thickness.

Technological innovation made possible thanks to the welding skills of Takumi has realized the lighter and stronger frame of the 300 Series. Land Cruisers are basically produced in Japan, and the frame is manufactured at Honsha Plant, which is evolving thanks to the production site at the factory.

Saito

Without the skills of people involved in production, we would not only be unable to assemble the actual cars, but both the GR Yaris and Land Cruiser wouldn’t even exist as vehicles.

Koyari

The bigger the company, the less they are inclined to try and downsize projects. But when you divide the labor too much, it makes it more difficult to share the vision of the development team with everyone involved. So, you run projects in compact teams, which strengthens the passion and will of members toward making cars. I think compact teams are also more conducive to implementing technological innovation.

Saito

That’s exactly how Morizo’s idea has been put into practice. The process of making cars has been downsized in a positive way.

Sadayoshi Koyari

Project General Manager, MS Product Planning, Mid-size Vehicle Company

Koyari joined Toyota Motor Corporation in 1985. As part of Engineering Division 1, he worked on chassis design for the Hilux and Land Cruiser Prado. From 1996, he was responsible for product development at Toyota Development Center 3; Since 2001, Koyari was involved in product development for the Land Cruiser and the new frame platform as Project General Manager. In 2007, he was appointed Chief Engineer at Toyota Development Center 1, and is currently in charge of the Land Cruiser 70 Series and the Land Cruiser Prado.

Naohiko Saito

Saito is in charge of development in the GR Project Operation Division at GAZOO Racing Company.

He joined Toyota Motor in 1997 after which he was placed in charge of solving technological issues in overseas service division. He was transferred to Toyota USA for three years starting in 2001, during which time he oversaw genchi genbutsu at various locations throughout North America.

In 2004, he worked as Chief Engineer in developing the new LS at Lexus Center. In 2009, he was placed in charge of developing aerodynamic technology at Higashi-Fuji Technical Center. In 2013, he was placed in charge of planning and developing the next-generation Yaris at TC Company. Since 2016, he has been in charge of developing the GR Yaris.

Koyari

It was the Land Cruiser 80 Series that began taking part in the Dakar Rally in the mid-90s. Ever since attention became focused on the prototype (developed specially for the race) after it became the overall winner, we have intentionally taken part in the rally in the class of production cars.

That’s because it’s pointless for a prototype Land Cruiser to become the overall winner. A prototype (which differs from a production car) can’t fulfill the production Land Cruiser’s mission to be “a vehicle that allows people to go anywhere & everywhere and come back alive & safe.

Conversely, the Dakar Rally course has always been a route traveled daily by our customers since ancient times. So I believe holding a race on a road like that to see who’s fastest gives us an opportunity to further improve our vehicle’s performance.

Koyari

One of the toughest routes in the world alongside the Dakar Rally is the Silk Way Rally stretching from Moscow to Beijing, and the Land Cruiser took part in it before. It’s close to the Silk Road, and I believe it is also a race to see who can travel fastest along a harsh road with a history stretching back forever.

Saito

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing has been taking part in rallies since 2017, but we’re required to use the unmodified bodies of production cars even in the top-category WRC, demonstrating how closely tied they are to the daily lives of our customers. The strengths of production cars are also the strengths of our cars in the WRC, and vice versa.

Behind the numerous wins are also numerous retirements, and it’s a constant cycle of breaking, fixing and improving through relentless development. I think Morizo (aka Akio Toyoda) decided to take part in the WRC because it’s the best way to make ever-better cars.

Saito

In Finland, it’s apparently OK to drive cars on private property as soon as kids are able to reach the brake pedals with their feet, and at lunchtime, the mechanic brought out the rally car that he had been driving since elementary school. The mechanic had apparently been playing and doing jumps on his property like a WRC driver since he was little. It was a world that I would never have known about if I had just stayed in Japan making cars.

Koyari

As with motorsports, we continued development of the Land Cruiser to meet the needs of customers who get behind the wheel, but we constantly receive new requests in response to the improvements made. To meet these demands, all we can do is continue devoting ourselves to development.

Saito

I’m the kind of person who easily gets carried away, and as a person in charge of developing the GR Yaris, Morizo said to me, ‘Go no further than to chuckle to yourself if you get praised, then move on. That’s what engineers do.’ His message was that engineers must devote themselves to continual learning and never become complacent, and it’s a philosophy that remains etched in my heart even today.

Koyari

I too had many dreams, or things I wanted to do to change the Land Cruiser when I first became involved in its development. But one day, I realized that the ideal Land Cruiser is developed by the customers themselves.

That’s why I decided to become the most customer-oriented developer around when I was assigned to the post of Chief Engineer. I feel my job is to meet lots of customers from all over the world, and listen with sincerity to their opinions to develop the ideal Land Cruiser.

The TS (Toyota Standard) that was mentioned earlier can also hinder development. So, there were times when we would argue with the company saying, ‘Why do we have to stop there?’ or, ‘Is that what the customers really want?’

I think it’s the responsibility of engineers to overcome these issues. You have to think from the customer’s perspective, or you’ll lose sight of the reasons why they want to drive Land Cruisers.

Koyari

As I mentioned earlier that our customers are never really satisfied, they never praise us either, and although we’ve been making Land Cruisers for a long time, we’re never given credit for it within the company (laughs).

Wakisaka

Instead of being manufacturer-oriented, the Land Cruiser has always continued its customer-oriented development, while that was the starting point for the GR Yaris, and what the two cars have in common is that Toyota’s engineers must avoid becoming conceited.

Saito

I want the young engineers of today to spend more time with their cars, which they don’t do enough of. I want them to know that our team has been learning on-site with ROOKIE Racing, and that we still have issues with the GR Yaris, which we want to expand horizontally to apply the solutions in making other cars.

I want to foster people who can take the initiative in working with cars, maintain them, and aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty in modifying them. So, I decided to hold a workshop on welding in the near future for our younger members. You need to understand the various types of steel in order to weld.

Koyari

Maybe I’m old fashioned, but you can’t make cars if you’re afraid of getting your hands dirty. I want young engineers to get their hands dirty, work hard, and make lots of mistakes. You can’t learn if you succeed at everything you do.

Looking back on my own past, I have a very strong desire to work hard for my customers as an engineer. I still have so much more I have to do, because I think the people higher up in the company have to work harder. An attitude like that is what makes a difference in the cars you make, which in turn helps to meet the needs of customers.

Sadayoshi Koyari

Project General Manager, MS Product Planning, Mid-size Vehicle Company

Koyari joined Toyota Motor Corporation in 1985. As part of Engineering Division 1, he worked on chassis design for the Hilux and Land Cruiser Prado. From 1996, he was responsible for product development at Toyota Development Center 3; Since 2001, Koyari was involved in product development for the Land Cruiser and the new frame platform as Project General Manager. In 2007, he was appointed Chief Engineer at Toyota Development Center 1, and is currently in charge of the Land Cruiser 70 Series and the Land Cruiser Prado.

Naohiko Saito

Saito is in charge of development in the GR Project Operation Division at GAZOO Racing Company.

He joined Toyota Motor in 1997 after which he was placed in charge of solving technological issues in　the overseas service division. He was transferred to Toyota USA for three years starting in 2001, during which time he oversaw genchi genbutsu at various locations throughout North America.

In 2004, he worked as Chief Engineer in developing the new LS at Lexus Center. In 2009, he was placed in charge of developing aerodynamic technology at Higashi-Fuji Technical Center. In 2013, he was placed in charge of planning and developing the next-generation Yaris at TC Company. Since 2016, he has been in charge of developing the GR Yaris.