Toyota closes the Philippine leg of global 5 Continents Drive

Toyota’s 5 Continents Drive is an event wherein a team of experts drive various Toyota vehicles through designated countries and areas that have tricky terrain and diverse environments. This is done so that the experts can understand the daily experiences of customers from around the world. The ultimate aim of this is to build better cars for the future to meet the ever-changing needs of the customer.

The drive itself is handled by Toyota Gazoo Racing. Toyota 5 Continent Drive started in 2014 in Australia and since then has moved on to other countries. The ultimate goal of the drive is to end on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

For the Philippine leg, the team started off in the Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) plant in Santa Rosa on November 19. From there the team would travel all across Luzon. The team itself was composed of 27 Toyota engineers and technical experts from Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyota Daihatsu Engineering and Manufacturing, and finally Toyota Motor Asia Pacific. Also present were two representatives of TMP who participated in the local leg of the drive.

The vehicles present in the drive were the locally made Vios and Innova, as well as the Corolla Altis Hybrid, Fortuner, Hilux, RAV4, and the Rush. The convoy of these vehicles made its way from Metro Manila all the way to Bulacan, Tarlac, La Union, Baguio, Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, and Zambales all before returning back to Manila. The 5 Continent Drive Philippine leg was concluded at the Philippine Goal Event which was held at Toyota Manila Bay – three days after the team hit the road from Sta Rosa. 

The goal of the Philippine leg was to gather information about the locally available units. The data gathered will help contribute to the goal of TMP to build ever-better cars for the future.