TOYOTA OPENS TOKYO DESIGN RESEARCH LAB.

Tokyo―TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) announced today that it held the opening ceremony for its Tokyo Design Research Lab. (TDRL) in Hachioji City, Tokyo, attended by about 40 special guests. They included local community representatives, TMC Executive Vice President Akihiro Wada, and other executives and officials.

The company's design R&D has been conducted at four design centers―the Design Division at Toyota headquarters in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture; the Tokyo Design Division in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Calty Design Research, Inc., in California, U.S.A.; and the TMME Design Division (EPOC) in Zaventem, Belgium. These four centers have developed and introduced many distinctive designs over the years. To meet evolving customer needs, however, Toyota has added TDRL to enhance its design R&D resources.

TDRL is located in the lush green setting of Hachioji City. Its state-of-the-art studio enables designers to simultaneously work on four full-size mockups, and an outdoor viewing area provides researchers with the advantage of reviewing designs in natural light.

TDRL Outline