When the car brand Toyota comes to mind, Filipinos usually associate it with reliability, parts availability, and indestructibility. That last word is, of course, hyperbole, but you get the drift.
Toyota’s invincibility has enamored Filipinos, allowing the brand to capture 50 percent of the Philippine car market. In 2022, eight Toyota models were in the country’s Top 10 bestselling cars list. According to Toyota Motor Corporation Chairman of the Board, Akio Toyoda himself, the Philippines ranks tenth in sales among all of Toyota’s global markets.
That’s no mean feat. But there’s one Toyota brand concept that most Filipinos may not be aware of. And that is its support and encouragement of motorsports.
Average Filipinos will always see car racing as a rich man’s sport. In a way, they are correct, as motorsports is a capital-intensive affair. But what Toyota has done, especially here in the Philippines, is to democratize the sport and make it more accessible to car enthusiasts.
Almost single-handedly, Toyota Motor Philippines has done more for local racing than any other car brand in the country. And it is not just about making race car variants, body kit-clad special editions out of specific models, or even sponsoring teams and drivers. Toyota has gone beyond those.
The Japanese carmaker has set up its racing series, the Vios Cup, complete with all the pomp and circumstance associated with it. This one-make racing extravaganza has been going on for nine years and will likely go on into the future as an avenue for up-and-coming racers to grow and learn from.
The recently concluded Toyota Gazoo Racing Festival was the latest event in which the brand put its money. Akio Toyoda himself drove a Toyota Gazoo Racing Yaris rally car to showcase his car control prowess. The fact that the company’s top man is in town to show off the racing side of his brand tells us how important it sees the challenge and excellence of motorsports is to the company.
But even before Gazoo Racing and the Vios Cup, Toyota was already very active in local motorsports.
In 1996, the Batangas Racing Circuit was put up with the support of Toyota as one of its first incorporators. Also, in that year, the Corolla Cup was born. Featuring the once ubiquitous Corolla “wide-body” generation, the racing series became the first real one-make series in the country. It spawned a new generation of race car drivers who would eventually advance into other disciplines.
That same year in BRC also saw the birth of the Formula Toyota Cup Philippines, which became the country’s premier single-seater open wheel racing series. As the Philippines’ highest level of racing at that time, it saw a mix of veterans from circuit racing and other motorsport disciplines together with upstarts mixing it up for racing supremacy.
Toyota was also a prominent fixture in the Philippine Touring Car series, with the Toyota Team TOM’S “small body” Corolla piloted by circuit racing multiple champion Jody Coseteng and actor Jomari Yllana. Jody would continue to carry the TOM’S branding on the track well into the 2000s.
These motorsports efforts didn’t go to waste as the showrooms would feature Toyota Motor Sports (TOM’S) and Toyota Racing Development (TRD) parts, accessories, and special edition variants of the brand’s models over the years.
With the advent of Toyota Gazoo Racing in 2009 as Toyota’s official motorsports division, a new level of motorsports involvement was reached. Spearheaded by Akio Toyoda and the late Toyota test driver Hiromu Naruse, the team has since become an established motorsports brand. It represents Toyota in international racing events such as the FIA World Rally Championship, Dakar Rally, FIA World Rally-Raid Championship, and the British Touring Car Championship.
But what put Toyota Gazoo Racing on the map was when it won the 24 Hours of Le Mans thrice. Toyota broke the 27-year-old record held by Mazda as the only Japanese manufacturer that has won Le Mans with its epic victory in the Circuit de la Sarthe in 2018. And it did this three times over.
Akio Toyoda’s pet project has borne fruit. Today, the Gazoo Racing badges and the accessories accompanying them symbolize success in motorsports. GR-specific models such as the GR Supra and GR Yaris showcase the know-how gained on the track and applied to models on the street.
Through Gazoo Racing editions of its model lineup, Toyota’s motorsports pedigree has now entered the consciousness of many Filipino car buyers. Now, they know GR is more than just an emblem. Now, they know that besides sporty styling, GR also stands for performance.
And sooner rather than later, that concept might become a fixture in the Filipino car buyers’ psyche when they choose a Toyota over other brands.
