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| #ToyotaWomen TWIN members with Toyota executives at the Toyota USA Automobile Museum |
Last week I had the pleasure of participating in TWIN Camp at Toyota’s Headquarters in Torrance, California. The trip was an incredible learning experience where I not only learned about the vehicles but also about the history of the company, local and national philanthropic commitments, the launch process of cars from concept to them rolling on to the lot, Entune technology, and collaborative research.
Since I’m still processing everything I learned, I thought I’d start the week sharing some interesting tidbits about Toyota during my time at TWIN Camp:
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| 1958 Toyota Toyopet |
- Toyota introduced their first car, the Toyopet, to the United States market in 1957. It wasn’t a huge seller but Toyota persisted to make cars that would appeal to the American market.
- Toyota opened the Collaborative Safety Research Center (CSRC) in Ann Arbor, Michigan last year to conduct collaborative, open research about crash data analysis that is designed to help the automotive industry reduce vehicle accidents. Collaboration in the auto industry is groundbreaking because car companies, like other corporations, are very protective of proprietary information.
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| Sitting in a race car was one of many highlights! |
- Toyota Motor Corporation president, Akio Toyoda, is a race car enthusiast. The 2012 Toyota Camry was the pace car for this year’s Daytona 500.
- The new Entune system in Toyota vehicles is designed to “enhance the driving experience” through carefully curated apps that customers will use.
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| Free Toyota Driving Expectations is a teen and parent program focused on eliminating distracted driving |
- Toyota has been committed to giving back throughout the 55 years they’ve been in the United States. Over the past 10 years, Toyota has given half a billion dollars towards education, safety, and environmental programs. They not only partner with well known organizations such as The National Park Foundation and National Public Lands Day but have created their own efforts like the TogetherGreen with the Audubon Society, Toyota International Teacher Foundation, Toyota USA Foundation that supports K-12 STEM education, Toyota Driving Expectations, 100 Cars for Good, and Toyota Dealer Match Program where they provide $10,000 in matching funds for local dealerships involved in charitable giving in their communities.
- Toyota “was green before green was trendy.” Their first environmental working group met in 1969 and they have been using metal containers called returnables to move the hundreds and thousands of parts around each day. Returnables save billions in cost and eliminate waste and are only small part of Toyota’s environmental action plan. For more information about Toyota’s commitment to the environment, take a look at their 2011 North America Environmental Report.
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| Conveniently situated hydrogen station is across the street from Toyota |
- There is a hydrogen station across the street from the Toyota campus. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have been on the market since 2003 and a Toyota sedan-based hydrogen fuel cell car is said to come in 2015.
- It takes 5 years for a car to go from concept to product launch.
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| 2012 Toyota Prius C in Habanero! |
- The 2012 Prius C starts at $18,900 and comes in trendy colors like Habañero! Affordable, comfortable, and fun to drive thanks to a sporty feel.
This is only the tip of the iceberg of the many things I learned in the 8 ½ hours I was at Toyota North America Headquarters. Many more posts are to come this week and next! For additional photos, visit my Flickr stream.
I was selected for participation in the TWIN community through a program with Clever Girls Collective. Toyota covered the expenses for my trip and gave me branded items along with tech goodies like a Sony Bloggie and PowerStick but I was not compensated for writing this post nor did I receive payment. All opinions are my own and do not reflect the views of Toyota.
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Original post by Tech Savvy Mama
©2012
Sad I missed this! Looks like such a blast.
I loved learning these new facts!