TOYOTA, Aichi Pref: Toyota Motor Corp. held a ceremony on Tuesday to mark the completion of its new development base in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan.

Toyota Technical Center Shimoyama, located in a mountainous area straddling the cities of Toyota and Okazaki, has 12 test courses modeled after Germany’s Nurburgring, known as one of the world’s most challenging circuits.

The center is designed to function as a stronghold for the leading Japanese automaker’s development of vehicles under its Lexus luxury and GR sports brands.

The 650-hectare center is a 30-minute drive from the company’s head office in Toyota and is expected to strengthen research and development processes with the headquarters.

Some of the test courses have been in operation since April 2019, and a special circuit area that replicates specific road conditions around the world has been in use since October 2021. Buildings for evaluating cars and for visitors have been completed recently.

Toyota has invested a total of 300 billion yen in the new development center, where some 3,000 employees will work.

Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda said at the ceremony that the most important principle in car manufacturing is creative destruction, and that the facility will make it possible to develop cars by repeatedly testing them to the breaking point and improving them.

JIJI Press