(3) Development of the New Crown (Presentation by Hiroki Nakajima)
I’m Hiroki Nakajima, president of Toyota’s in-house Mid-size Vehicle Company overseeing the brand new Crown’s improvement.
Let me discuss concerning the new Crown’s improvement story. First of all, somewhat greater than two years in the past, we had been engaged on a partial redesign of the Fifteenth-generation Crown.
I shared particulars of the mission with President Toyoda, however he didn’t approve it, saying: “Is this truly going to result in evolution? Why don’t we start thinking more seriously? Maybe we should skip a partial redesign.”
Looking again, I imagine these phrases marked the start of the event of the Sixteenth-generation Crown.
We began by revisiting the passions of successive chief engineers to totally reexamine what the Crown was all about.
We realized anew that there have been no fastened guidelines reminiscent of these governing the form of the automotive or its drive system. The solely widespread thread was the engineers’ spirit of innovation and problem. This prompted us to know how we had tied ourselves to our predetermined guidelines over time.
At the time, I recalled the 2 messages President Toyoda had been repeating since turning into president. That is, “let’s make ever-better cars,” and “let’s aim to be the best in town, not the best in the world.”
I noticed that the Crown is a long-time vendor as a result of the previous chief engineers consistently challenged themselves to create an ever-better Crown with a best-in-town focus of their car-making to make prospects completely happy.
This induced us to drastically change our method. We freed ourselves from fastened methods of pondering and began exploring a brand new Crown that may obtain happiness for our prospects. That’s how this crossover’s improvement started.
President Toyoda gave us the inexperienced mild after we confirmed him the car’s form and packaging. Around that point, he additionally gave us a brand new job.
He mentioned: “Why don’t we also think about a sedan?”
Frankly, I could not imagine what I had simply heard. But I believed it was as a result of he noticed our modifications since deciding to skip a partial redesign. We had a unique mindset as a result of we returned to the Crown’s origin, and he needed us to use that to creating a sedan model.
Then, in return, we proposed 4 completely different fashions, pondering that we additionally wanted a hatchback and a station wagon to fulfill numerous wants. This is the background story.
Let me as soon as once more introduce to you our 4 variations of the brand new Crown.
First, the Crossover. This Crown is the results of fusing a sedan and an SUV. Its packaging permits for ease of entry and exit, supplies a excessive viewpoint, and makes the car simple to drive. Its driving efficiency, underpinned by a brand new hybrid system, marks an evolutionary advance, making it a sedan like no different.
Next, the Sport. This Crown is a brand new type of sporty SUV, a spirited and inventive automotive with easy-to-drive packaging that provides an agile and sporty driving expertise.
Then, the Sedan. As an orthodox sedan, this Crown was developed in pursuit of high quality and luxury, in addition to a brand new formal expression. It can also be well-suited as a chauffeured car.
Last, the Estate. This Crown, as a extremely useful SUV, permits customers to get pleasure from driving efficiency with energy to spare and an lively way of life in a mature ambiance. The rear seats fold to kind a totally flat cargo space, making this mannequin a cross between a station wagon and an SUV.
These 4 fashions are united underneath the Crown title. Starting with this now-launching Crown Crossover, we are going to roll them out in succession over the subsequent 12 months and a half.
It was no simple job to develop these 4 fashions on the identical time. What made it attainable had been Toyota’s in-house firm system and the Toyota New Global Architecture, or TNGA. We could not current the brand new Crown at this time with out them.
First, I’ll clarify a bit about our in-house firm system we began in 2016.
Each in-house firm’s members really feel strongly connected to and place the very best precedence on the automobiles they’re answerable for. Our mission is to make choices and act on our personal initiative.
For the Mid-size Vehicle Company, we had been capable of place the Crown before everything. And as president, I used to be capable of execute the mission primarily based on my accountability and judgment. That’s what actually mattered.
We needed to assessment our earlier improvement course of, totally eradicate waste, and safe assets. We positioned the product planning and improvement processes underneath the accountability of a single crew, selling everybody’s professionalism and speaking extra carefully than ever earlier than to perform our mission.
Next, let me now discuss concerning the second aspect, TNGA.
In 2012, in pursuit of creating ever-better automobiles, we began the TNGA initiative to drastically enhance fundamental car efficiency via the built-in improvement of modern car platforms and powertrains.
Over the previous ten years, TNGA has matured and developed, enabling us to show the Crown right into a sequence.
TNGA-based platforms have enhanced fundamental car efficiency, styling that entices individuals at first look, and drive and journey high quality that makes individuals need to carry on having fun with it.
The new Crown is much more developed. The Crown Sports, for instance, provides each a classy look and inside consolation and value because of a brand new devoted platform and larger-diameter tires.
TNGA powertrains, with an emphasis on direct and clean efficiency, have achieved each wonderful driving efficiency and gasoline effectivity whereas contributing to a decrease middle of gravity for autos.
That evolution has continued. For instance, on this crossover, the engine and entrance electrical motor are instantly related, and the rear wheels have a devoted giant electrical motor, attaining highly effective driving with a complete output of 350 horsepower and a sturdy 550 newton-meters of torque. This mannequin additionally employs a brand new hybrid system that makes use of exact four-wheel-drive management of car posture.
The Crown has lengthy served because the flagship of the Toyota model.
We will put all of our power into creating these Crown fashions by making use of to the fullest our in-house firm system and TNGA, and we are going to construct flagship-quality autos for our prospects. Please stay up for them. Thank you very a lot.
