Press Release

Hyogo, Japan — July 1, 2021 — Toyo Tire Corporation (Headquarters: Itami City, Hyogo Prefecture; President & CEO: Takashi Shimizu; hereinafter, "Toyo Tires") announced today that it will supply Toyo OPEN COUNTRY M/T-R, a specially tuned version of its flagship brand for pickup trucks and SUVs for serious off-road racing, to Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body (hereinafter, "TLC"). The team, created by Toyota Auto Body Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Kariya City, Aichi Prefecture; President: Keiji Masui; hereinafter, "Toyota Auto Body"), will compete in the Dakar Rally 2022 and 2023.

Toyota Land Cruiser at the 2020 Andalucía Rally

The Dakar Rally is a cross country (off-road endurance) rally that has been organized since 1979. Originally staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal, crossing the Sahara on the African Continent, it was formerly known as the Paris-Dakar Rally. With the race now taking place entirely in Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, the Dakar continues to enthrall drivers and motorsports fans as one of the toughest motorsports events in the world. The forthcoming Dakar Rally, scheduled for January 2022, will see participating teams driving a total distance of approximately 8,000 km over the two weeks of the race.

TLC is a professional rally team formed by Toyota Auto Body, a member of the Toyota Group, to compete in the Dakar Rally. The team first entered the Dakar back in 2005 taking over from its predecessor, the Toyota Team Araco. At the 2021 Dakar, which took place in January this year, the team scored their eighth consecutive win in the production category.

Toyo Tires has supplied its hallmark tires to many teams and drivers competing in tough off-road races across the globe, underpinning their victories. At the 2022 Dakar, Toyo Tires will support TLC by supplying OPEN COUNTRY M/T-R, which have been developed specifically for the Dakar Rally based on TLC's experience, accumulated through off-road races in deserts and other treacherous terrains, as well as know-how that Toyo Tires has gained from its support of such races. The mutual target is to assist TLC to increase their eight straight wins, to nine consecutive production category wins.

In its medium-term business plan, Mid-Term '21 Plan, announced in February this year, Toyo Tires announced that it will strengthen the development of products that feature unique design and functionality, including the OPEN COUNTRY tire series. Toyo Tires feed knowledge acquired from these activities back to the product development process in a bid to deliver higher-performance, higher-quality products that will appeal to general consumers.

 

 

■ About the Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body
A rally team assembled by Toyota Auto Body to compete in the Dakar Rally with the Toyota Land Cruiser it develops and produces. The manager, coach, and drivers of the team are all their employees. The team was previously known as Toyota Team Araco, and first participated in the "Paris-Dakar" Rally with the 80 series Toyota Land Cruiser in 1995. Since then, TLC has consistently taken on this world-famous off-road race in the T2 production category, scoring its eight consecutive category wins at the 2021 Dakar Rally.

 

■ About the contract

Vehicles supported	2022: Land Cruiser 200  2023: Land Cruiser 300
Support details	Development and provision of OPEN COUNTRY M/T-R tires

 

■OPEN COUNTRY Series
The OPEN COUNTRY tire Series is Toyo Tires’ flagship brand, targeting to the SUV market. Toyo Tires has helped vehicles equipped with OPEN COUNTRY to achieve numerous outstanding results in international races, honing the durability and resistance to external damage to ensure reliable mobility. The excellent basic performance and aggressive pattern design is highly rated in the U.S., where the large SUVs are particularly popular. OPEN COUNTRY also released raised white letter tires, which are popular among outdoor and trend conscious consumers in Japan.