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© The Author(s) 2018
H. Komiyama, K. Yamada, New Vision 2050, Science for Sustainable Societies,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-56623-6
Interview
Interview 1: Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050
Challenges Unachievable Following the Lines Laid Before
Takeshi Uchiyamada
Chairman, Board of Directors
Toyota Motor Corporation
Komiyama What has the response been like in-house and in the world at large to
Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050?
Uchiyamada The goals we set for it were quite bold, and we needed to be fairly
decisive about announcing numerical targets. Naturally, people in-house were surprised, and so were the parts manufacturers with whom we do business. “Why is
Toyota talking like this,” they wondered. On the other hand, we also quickly received
proposals suited to the direction in which Toyota is headed. Furthermore, most of
the companies in the Toyota Group subsequently similarly announced their own
goals.
Komiyama I see.
Uchiyamada It was like this when we released the Prius in 1997, too. Even though
we had come out with a car with good fuel economy that brought down the volume
of CO 2 emissions, we couldn’t get big results with the Prius alone. We got our customers to recognize that reducing CO 2 is one of the issues that a car-oriented society
faces. As a result, since then environmental performance has come to be a factor
upon which product appeal hinges and all car manufacturers compete on it. It goes
without saying in the case of hybrids, but fuel economy has also improved with
standard gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles. The volume of CO 2 emissions has
fallen substantially. What’s crucial, I think, is for a development that closely resem-
© The Author(s) 2018
H. Komiyama, K. Yamada, New Vision 2050, Science for Sustainable Societies,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-56623-6
Interview
Interview 1: Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050
Challenges Unachievable Following the Lines Laid Before
Takeshi Uchiyamada
Chairman, Board of Directors
Toyota Motor Corporation
Komiyama What has the response been like in-house and in the world at large to
Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050?
Uchiyamada The goals we set for it were quite bold, and we needed to be fairly
decisive about announcing numerical targets. Naturally, people in-house were surprised, and so were the parts manufacturers with whom we do business. “Why is
Toyota talking like this,” they wondered. On the other hand, we also quickly received
proposals suited to the direction in which Toyota is headed. Furthermore, most of
the companies in the Toyota Group subsequently similarly announced their own
goals.
Komiyama I see.
Uchiyamada It was like this when we released the Prius in 1997, too. Even though
we had come out with a car with good fuel economy that brought down the volume
of CO 2 emissions, we couldn’t get big results with the Prius alone. We got our customers to recognize that reducing CO 2 is one of the issues that a car-oriented society
faces. As a result, since then environmental performance has come to be a factor
upon which product appeal hinges and all car manufacturers compete on it. It goes
without saying in the case of hybrids, but fuel economy has also improved with
standard gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles. The volume of CO 2 emissions has
fallen substantially. What’s crucial, I think, is for a development that closely resem-