New Toyota CEO Kenta Kon has used the complexity of the brand’s seats to illustrate how he wants to accomplish his mission of cutting costs and lowering the brand’s break-even volume – the amount of vehicles it has to sell before it makes a profit.

Kon, who was appointed to the position just five months ago, appears to be keen on driving down costs in ways that customers will have to work hard to notice, going by his remarks. 

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He told Automotive News that some features on Toyota products are unnecessarily intricate, explaining that the seats, for example, often use different materials to cover the front, sides and back – and customers don’t always need that level of detail and difference. 

The same school of thought could apply to a huge range of features, from door handles to head rests. Toyota’s aim appears to be continuing to use high-quality materials, but not in the same number of varieties.

Kon said his drive to lower the break-even volume does have its limits, however. While the required volume has been increasing in recent years, the idea is not to hammer it down as hard as possible. He told the publication, “We’re not thinking the lower the break-even volume, the better. There will be a certain level that allows us to keep operating suppliers even in very difficult situations.”

Last month it was reported that Toyota had asked its parts suppliers to come up with cost reductions for the second half of the fiscal year, which runs from April 1 to the following March 31, which folds nicely into Kon’s mission statement. 

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The news comes soon after another big Toyota cost-cutting measure was revealed: extending the average sales cycle of its mainstream models from seven to nine years. That means instead of making big changes to vehicles’ bodywork, chassis, drivetrain and other mechanicals, refreshes will centre more around substantial software updates. 

Toyota’s shift comes after the launch of its Software Defined Vehicle (SDV) strategy, which allows the development of new and updated functions through digital technology alone. The move will also free up resources that can be devoted to the firm’s focus on electrification.

The SDV plan is a major part of the brand’s drive to increase profits from sources other than new-car sales by around 40 per cent by 2030. Over-the-air software updates for functions like powertrain calibration, safety systems and multimedia operations are driven through the company’s Arene software platform, described as “Toyota’s tugboat into the future” by CEO Hajime Kumabe.