Business Management Toyota Prius

Toyota Prius Case

1. The concept of “Global car for the 21st century” project, which was headed by Uchiyamada, was to design an environmental friendly car.
2. Uchiyamada decided to have only one plan and no backup plan. This would ensure that the engineers don’t divide their time in different technologies and presence of backups could allay emergency among his team.
3. In 1937, Kiichiro used the “just in time production” (a method widely used today also) which reduced inventory and increased manufacturing flexibility relative to conventional mass production.
4. Uchiyamada chose those engineers with absolutely no product planning experience to develop G21 car which had no existing car to refer to.
5. He along with his team absorbed new ideas by travelling, meeting new people and reading books. They kept close contact even those days that had no meeting.
6. Toyota management believed that competitive differentiation of automakers would be determined by their electronic parts and thus challenged their Hirose plant with the development of IGBT
7. In 1997, Toyota made history by unveiling the world’s first methanol-powered fuel cell vehicle at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
8.  Okuda, the new president of Toyota, wanted to launch Prius early to gain competitive advantage.  The launch was moved to late 1997, leaving less than 2year to commercialization.
9. The Prius became the first car in history to claim “Japan Car of The Year “and “RJC New Car of the Year” awards along with “Global Climate Protection Award’. Within 22months sold more than 30000 units, which was more than the combined total of all electric vehicles sold worldwide.
10. Prius was the most successful alternate power vehicle it was not considered successful in terms of conventional volume and profitability measures.