Even facing fierce competition in the Chinese market, Toyota still has the energy to pursue its dream.
On June 26, Toyota GR Carnival was held in Shanghai. This was the largest event of Toyota GR (Gazoo Racing) in China recently, with nearly 1,000 people attending. This was also the first time that GR Carnival was held in China.
Even outside the event venue, the three GR series cars parked there have attracted many bloggers, up-loaders, and domestic and foreign performance car enthusiasts to stop and watch. The racing girls who walked by from time to time, the DJs who played on the stage, and the rappers who performed live together set the atmosphere to a critical point.
Left: GR SUPRA Right: New GR YARIS
The Chinese drivers Han Lichao, Hou Shaoyu, Tiedou and Japanese drivers Masahiro Sasaki and Norihiko Katsuta were invited to the scene to perform drifting. Of course, the most noteworthy driver was the mysterious driver MORIZO. Another more well-known identity of MORIZO is the chairman of Toyota Motor and the chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association - Akio Toyoda.
Akio Toyoda took a photo with Chinese and Japanese drivers
Speaking of the origin of MORIZO, the time goes back to 2019. At that time, Akio Toyoda wanted to participate in the Nürburgring 24 Hours Endurance Race in person, but was opposed by colleagues and friends who believed that he could not withstand such a high-intensity competition at his age. But Akio Toyoda did not give up. In the list of drivers of the Toyota GR team in that Nürburgring 24 Hours Endurance Race, there was a Mr. MORIZO. This strange driver with only a first name but no last name was Akio Toyoda.
In fact, Toyoda had already used the same name to participate in Toyota's team competitions as early as 2014, but not as high-profile as the Nürburgring. Toyoda said that using a pseudonym allowed him to have a closer relationship with the team staff. In addition, Toyoda believes that when he is Morizo, he can step out of his position as president and truly understand what car fans want, so that he can do more for car enthusiasts.
Akio Toyoda
Toyota staff revealed that Akio Toyoda did not participate in the rehearsal the day before and the morning of the event. On the scene, Akio Toyoda performed drifting 4 times. Obviously, he did not regard this as a show or performance at all, but a real playground for fun.
Akio Toyoda driving the GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID
The 68-year-old man not only brought a drifting show to the audience together with the drivers, but also used his superb driving skills and endless enthusiasm to prove to people who love GR and racing that Toyota is serious about making fun cars.
At the event, Akio Toyoda drove the GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID, which won the championship for two consecutive years in 2022 and 2023. Other drivers on the scene also drove the GR86 and GR Supra for performances.
GR86
Compared with GR YARIS, GR86 has slightly less power and a slightly longer body, while GR Supra is a GT4 racing car with too high body stability and not flexible enough. This may be the reason why Akio Toyoda chose the short and powerful GR YARIS for all four times he played.
GR86
And on the exterior, we saw the modified GR YARIS, which for the first time offers a left-hand drive version, which provides conditions for its introduction into China for sale.
New GR YARIS interior
Right now, the domestic automobile market is in a period of chaos with self-expansion and mutual pulling down.
Some people say that involution is the process of good money driving out bad money. But if the approach is wrong, everyone may slam the table, and even "chop off their fingers".
Some people say that joint ventures do not represent backwardness. This is not "you can't stand up after kneeling for too long", but to look up more often, there are always brighter stars in the sky.
The real confidence of the industry is not verbal battles, not forming cliques, and not emphasizing that the opponent is unethical when encountering "unfair treatment" in business expansion. It is like Toyota, facing competition and pressure in the world's largest automobile market, still has the energy to pursue dreams, and pass on the methane smell of dreams to everyone, while continuing to be the world's No. 1 profitable automaker.
We can see from Toyota that you can have both business and faith. So don’t complain about your company not making money, and don’t feel suffocated by your dreams. Put your energy into making cars, and your dreams will come true.
