JEDDAH: A Toyota chief engineer was in Jeddah on Sunday to gather feedback about one of the carmaker's flagship designs.
Sadayoshi Koyari, chief engineer for Toyota's commercial vehicle development center and Lexus has since 2007 been responsible for the engineering of one of the world's most famous production vehicles, the Land Cruiser.
He said that the Land Cruiser had been a huge success both globally and in Saudi Arabia.
Launched in early 1951, the Toyota Type 25 BJ had within six months of its creation proven its capabilities when it climbed to the sixth hill station at an altitude of 2,500 meters on Japan's Mount Fuji.
It was the first vehicle to get that far. As a result of this performance, the BJ was added to the Japanese police fleet and the rest is automotive history.
In 1954 the latest BJ, the Type 25, was given a generic model name - Land Cruiser - which has been used ever since.
In 1954, a year after the marque was named, and coincidentally the same year that Studebaker in the US ceased production of its car with the same name, the Toyota Land Cruiser was the carmaker's first passenger vehicle to be exported from Japan.
It has to date sold over six million units worldwide, with over one third of those in the Middle East. The first Land Cruisers reached the region in Kuwait in 1955.
"Now, after more than six decades, due to its durability and reliability, there are more Land Cruisers in service than any other SUV in the world," said Koyari.
"We have continued to honor the trust placed in us by the millions of loyal Land Cruiser customers around the globe."
Six decades since its appearance on the automotive scene, it continues to be a global sales success and is the world's best-selling SUV. Today, it is sold in more than 140 countries and produced in nine Toyota manufacturing plants around the globe. Its principle markets are the Middle East, Australia and Europe.
In 2008, Koyari said that at the start of the new V8-project in 2002, the company considered the future direction of Land Cruiser, taking into account the evolving expectations of a global customer base with a strong demand for the model.
"I am confident that the Toyota Land Cruiser V8 has the genuine off-road capability to strengthen Toyota's reputation for advanced technology, while offering increased refinement and a premium market position," he said at the time. His predictions proved accurate.
While Toyota had no plans for a hybrid version of the marquee, Koyari said that part of his reason for visiting the Kingdom was to gather feedback from both clients and customers to keep him aware of what they wanted and to inform the future evolution of the design.
Koyari has been working with Toyota Motor Corporation since 1985. He was responsible for chassis design for other breadwinning standards in the Toyota stable, including the Hilux and Land Cruiser Prado.
He has held the position of Project General Manager at Toyota Development Center 1, in charge of product planning and development for the Tundra and the largest SUV that the company has yet produced, the Sequoia.
© Arab News 2011
