Toyota 5 Continents Drive flagged off in India

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) has flagged off the 5 Continents Drive, commemorating the journey of two decades in India. The 5 Continents Drive is a project carried out under the umbrella of Toyota Gazoo Racing. 

Launched in Australia in 2014, the 5 Continents Drive project has covered four of the world’s continents so far and moved to Asia for its final stage, earlier this year. As part of the project, Toyota employees will drive vehicles under various conditions of the 5 continents: Australia, America (North and Latin), Europe, Africa and Asia. The drive will end at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, with the five continents representing the five rings in the Olympic symbol. 

The 5 Continent Drive flag-off ceremony took place at Toyota Kirloskar Motor’s plant at Bidadi in Karnataka. From Bangalore, the convoy with employees from TMC and TKM along with its partners, will travel through the states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan, and reach its destination - New Delhi, where the drive will culminate later this month. The convoy will be driving Toyota vehicles from the company’s existing model line-up in India. 

With the philosophy of ‘Roads train people and people build cars’, the 5 Continents Drive convoy will be driving across India’s diverse locations, listening to customer feedback, understanding the nature of roads, reviewing our vehicle standards,  recognizing the value of reliability,  durability and comfort, acquiring the knowledge.

In this project, Toyota aims to not only develop employees who are behind the wheel but also inspire its partners and other internal and external stakeholders. The driving teams will share their knowledge acquired with other employees through internal reports once the Asia leg of the drive is over.

Speaking on the launch of the project in India, Yoichi Minamiyama, General Manager, Gazoo Racing Company, TMC, said, “Toyota Gazoo Racing firmly believes that, ‘On the road we learn how to make ever-better cars.’ The 5 Continents Drive Project was formulated to put this maxim to the test. Driven by the philosophy of ‘Genchi Genbutsu’, this project enables us to go behind the wheels under harsh road conditions to gain experience and knowledge of the world's roads, listen to customer feedback, encounter global cultures first-hand, and together find solutions to numerous problems and challenges. Such experiences further empower us to hone our intuition for making ever-better cars in a manner that cannot be replicated at a desk or on test courses, and thereby contribute to the development of human resources. Since the launch of the 5 Continent Drive Project in 2014, around 520 participants have travelled across continents to take back learnings from the roads to each workplace, in each area, breaking down corporate walls, and learning from the roads. With the commencement of our journey In India, we look forward to understanding the characteristics of the Indian roads and the challenges that will come along with it.”