Welcome to the Five Continents Drive. It is an unprecedented seven-year, 130,000-mile, worldwide gambit, devised by CEO Akio Toyoda himself to reboot the mindset of the world's biggest carmaker for an era of new markets, new technologies and new demands.
The goal: Ingrain the "ever-better" mindset across the carmaker's far-flung empire.
Akio Toyoda has intoned about making "ever-better cars" since first using the term publicly June 25, 2009, two days after taking charge of the company founded by his grandfather. Today, no Toyota speech, press conference or news release is complete without a mention.
Now, seven years later, Toyota is about to find out whether the mantra took hold or is just a hollow buzzword. The first wave of vehicles developed from scratch under Toyoda's watch are hitting the market. And the stakes couldn't be higher, with nameplates such as the stalwart Toyota Camry, sporty Lexus LC halo coupe and crucial Toyota C-HR subcompact crossover among them.
They will be the first test of whether Toyota is making cars not only better than the company's previous generation but also better and more exciting than the best that rivals have on offer.
