Toyota has made a very important announcement regarding the future of their product development. To greatly improve core vehicle performance and product appeal, Toyota is implementing an innovative, integrated development approach for powertrain components and vehicle platforms. Development of vehicles is also being grouped to promote strategic sharing of parts and powertrain components with the goal of reducing resources required for development by 20 percent or more. And by working even closer with suppliers, Toyota intends to further reduce costs and reinvest the resulting resources into developing advanced technologies and strengthening product appeal. To enhance driving performance and fuel efficiency while also giving vehicles more attractive styling and improved handling, Toyota is focusing on joint development of powertrains and platforms together to create a lower center of gravity, on making components lighter and more compact, and on applying unified design through modularization.
Toyota has developed new platforms through innovative improvements to its vehicle underbodies and suspensions. Additionally, repositioning and lowering the center of gravity of powertrain components has contributed to achieving attractive, low-stance designs, responsive handling, a high-quality drive feel, and collision performance that offers safety.