Toyota's Style Promise: “The Era of Boring and Bland Designs are Over”

We often talk about Toyota in terms of it reliability and performance. And truth be told, we rarely hear people admire its cars for their "unique design."

It's not that they don’t look attractive--it's just that they don’t stand out in any way.

For a long time, the added expense of creating complex sheet-metal stamps, plus their engineers' relentless pursuit of efficiency, has been the two biggest deterrents for Toyota's creative juices to flow.

"Normally, Toyota's styling is not so sexy or three-dimensional. That's because, I'm sorry to say, on the production engineering side, they do not take risks," Camry Chief Engineer Masato Katsumata admits.

Fortunately for us, Toyota is becoming more daring in style, incorporating bolder, riskier designs to make its vehicles stand out.

Breaking out of its shell

The first step Toyota did: let its President, Akio Toyoda, issue a company-wide decree saying "no more boring cars."

The second thing it did: carry out its slogan, and create a design philosophy for the company.

"An Raku Tan"

Toyota’s current motto is “An Raku Tan”. "An" means safe and reliable; "Raku" is fun, exciting, but comfortable; and "Tan" means straightforwardness and simplicity.

"An Raku Tan" can easily be found in the newest design of Toyota Camry, evolving from safe and straightforward, to safe, straightforward, and exciting as well.

Just look at Toyota Camry in 2012 (top) and in 2018 (bottom), and you'll see the huge difference:

J-Factor Design Philosophy

With its slogan secured in place, it's time to create its design philosophy: the 'J-Factor.'

The J-Factor celebrates Japanese originality, and "creates new values by 'synergizing' various contradictory elements to create a sense of harmony."

For instance, the Toyota Prius, the first viably-enterprised hybrid car, was a result of combining two dissimilar or opposing elements. Its Hybrid Synergy Drive technology offers the contrasting power of a petrol engine and electric motor harmoniously.

The 'J-Factor' also incorporates natural beauty in designing vehicles. Nature is deeply ingrained in Japanese culture, and traces of it can be seen in its newest models. The Toyota Prius' dashboard, for one, mimics those thin, tiny veins found in leaves.

Turning heads on the road

So how does the public respond to the bolder Toyota? Some prefer that the company tone it down a notch or two; while others love it. And there are some who think the design is too "out there."

Whatever the case, no one can deny that Toyota's designs aren't bland anymore.

"It's almost impossible to miss or ignore Toyota's products," says John Manoogian, a former designer for General Motors. "It's so difficult to get a large corporation to understand the importance of design as a strategic tool and a product differentiator. Mr. Toyoda understands it, and has unleashed Toyota's designers to be as creative as possible."