December 13

Fuel Efficiency Improvement Committee established to meet the domestic fuel efficiency regulations that come into effect in 2000; Committee's action policy is to achieve class-leading fuel efficiency to meet the 2000 regulations

 

June

Genesis Research Institute, Inc. established; planned by three groups attached to the Technical Administration Department (the predecessor organization to the Material Engineering Field in the R&D Group) as a part of the commemorative events marking the 60th anniversary of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC)'s establishment

June

Toyota Advanced Research Grant Program launched; implemented under a five-year plan starting in 1996 as a part of the commemorative events marking the 60th anniversary of TMC's establishment; subsidies provided to domestic research organizations to conduct research in three main areas; the environment, energy, and safety

July 24

P/F Committee established to enhance platform (P/F) product capabilities, raise production and development efficiency, create common parts, and improve technical capabilities; first P/F Committee meeting held

 

January

Research & Advanced Development Planning Division, which managed advanced technology development, and Development Management Division, which managed vehicle and unit development, merge to form the R&D Management Division

 

March 26

TMC obtains ISO 14001 certification in the product technology development field, a first in the domestic automobile industry

January 1

R&D Management Division established in the R&D Group; new organization performs management during three phases: cutting-edge research, advanced development, and product planning development

 

March

Recycling Group established as a recycling promotion division in response to the adoption of recycling laws in Japan and Europe

 

September

ES3 announced at the Frankfurt Motor Show

 

October

Joint Research Application System launched for collaboration between industry and academia; test operation conducted in 2000, program conducted for the first time in 2001 and continued until the 10th time in 2010

 

October 16

Cutting-Edge Research Investigation Committee created; first meeting held to identify research fields and topics necessary to achieve the society and products of 20 years in the future and discuss research plans and results

 

June

Recycling Vision and Vehicle Manufacturing Based on Recycling announced to express Toyota's stance and advanced position concerning recycling; concrete targets set in four areas: steady improvement in recycling efficiency in Japan and Europe, use of reusable resources and recycled materials, increased use of used parts, and reduction of substances of environmental concern

September 25

P/F Committee and Global Unit Development Conference merge to form the Expanded P/F & Unit Committee as a forum for comprehensive discussions concerning vehicle underbodies

 

October 25

Fuel cell INnovative Emotion-Next generation (Fine-N), a fuel cell hybrid vehicle, displayed at the Tokyo Motor Show as a concept car

 

January 1

Groups that were divided along vehicle and unit lines reorganized into the Product PDM Group and the Fuel Efficiency and Exhaust FE Group

 

September

Publicity Strategy Investigation Team created to conduct strategic and global publicity

 

October 22

Fuel cell INnovative Emotion-Next eXperiment (Fine-X), a new fuel cell hybrid vehicle, displayed at the Tokyo Motor Show as a concept car

 

January 18

Energy Investigation Working Group, Technology and Vehicle Development Investigation Working Group, Complementary Countermeasures Investigation Working Group, and Environmental Publicity Working Group established to oversee environmental technology strategies from scenarios to products

 

March

National Tsing Hui University-Toyota Research Center established; representative programs include the Improvement of Air Quality in Beijing in Anticipation of the 2008 Olympics and the Japan-China Environmental Management Seminar.

 

June

Environmental Forum (Powertrain Engineering Briefing Group) held

 

September

Four substances of concern (lead, mercury, cadmium, and hexavalent chromium) completely eliminated from the Lexus 460 and Corolla Axio

 

January

Engineering Publicity Group of the R & D Management Division established to reinforce strategic publicity of technology

 

June

R&D Management Center established to create an integrated organization for investigation of platform and powertrain technologies and reinforce planning

 

June

In conjunction with the creation of the Product Development Group, the R&D Management Center reorganized into the R&D Management Division and Product Development Management Division

 

January

Next-Generation Promotion Group, International Standardization Group, and BR2020 Group established

 

June

Safety, Comfort, and Driving Performance Functional Groups transferred

 

June

Groups established for promoting cross-field projects involving information society based systems and driving performance improvement

 

January 1

BR-AD Department established with the aim of designing and manufacturing high-quality vehicles, planning appealing vehicles in a timely manner, and reducing development and manufacturing costs by making active use of information technology in vehicle development

January 1

BR Prevention of Quality Problem Dept. (BR-MR Department) established to support quality improvements in technology fields and MB (prevention) activities commenced to completely prevent the release of defective products-from prototypes to mass production products-and create prevention-related structures

 

March 1

BR-AD Innovation Teams established with the objective of supporting component development process preparation, design knowledge consolidation and organization, and the development of projects that apply BR-AD processes

November 7

Full-scale implementation of Design Review Based on Failure Mode (DRBFM) to development projects in order to identify and solve problems

September 26

Quality deterioration improvement activities started; drastic improvements made in all areas with a focus on recovery of worn-out vehicles from the market, use of environment surveys, and interdisciplinary activities

April 1

United BR Advanced Development Dept. and MB Promotion Dept., BR Development Innovation Promotion Department established with the mission of creating systems to dramatically improve development efficiency while maintaining quality

 

May 1

Design Quality Innovation Division established as a new quality oversight division in technology fields to reinforce the functions of the BR Development Innovation Promotion Department concerning quality issues; technology action items started by the Special Committee for Global Quality forcefully implemented