At the 2004 Melbourne Motor Show, Toyota Australia unveiled the Sportivo Coupe, a concept car that demonstrates new styling, interior dynamics and high tech approaches to road safety.

The Sportivo Coupe introduces near horizon concepts and technologies that demonstrate Toyota Australia's Melbourne-based design, engineering and prototyping capabilities.

Toyota Sportivo Couple Concept Car

Toyota Sportivo Coupe went from concept to reality in under 30 weeks. It strikes out in new directions from the X-Runner vehicle unveiled at the 2003 Melbourne Motor Show.

Built on the Toyota modular platform, the Sportivo Coupe incorporates a completely fresh approach to styling and interior dynamics.

It also presents new concepts for how we will use cars in the future and challenges century-old technology such as metal number plates.

"Toyota is very excited about this concept car and the ideas it contains," Toyota Australia executive director sales and marketing Dave Buttner said while launching the car at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre.

Passive Access Entry System developed by AAPL

"We wanted to develop a vehicle that was based on the locally manufactured Camry, but which focused more on younger people. "And we wanted to display to the world the capabilities of our local Toyota designers and engineers, as well as local suppliers, and to grow their expertise.

Toyota Australia utilised the depth of expertise of many of its local suppliers to enhance the Sportivo Coupe concept car. Many of the suppliers took the opportunity of trying out new and prototype technologies, sometimes at their own instigation and sometimes with prompting from the inventive vehicle designers.

LED Strip Lighting developed by AAPL

Project manager Rob Allen had the task of co-ordinating and integrating the technologies of dozens of Australian supplier companies with the design and engineering departments of Toyota Australia.

"Toyota has a deep commitment to its suppliers and treats them more as partners, so we worked very closely together," Mr Allen said. "Their involvement in this project helps train them in the Toyota way and allows them to trial their ideas for future projects. "This particular project also gave them and us the challenge of developing the entire car on computer, so we had to work out the processes involved in going straight from CAD to producing finished components, which was good experience for the future."

Passive Access Entry System developed by AAPL

Toyota's creative designers and engineers threw Australian Arrow some huge electronic systems challenges and the company turned them into workable reality. These included the passive access system, advanced body electronics and no fewer than 10 specially developed lighting control modules for the vast quantity of LEDs in the car.

The company employed some new receiver, transmitter and antenna technologies specially adapted for the Sportivo Coupe. The state of the art body electronics module uses innovative advanced fuseless technology.

AAPL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Yazaki Corporation in Japan, which employs over 163,000 people in 37 countries and has a turnover in excess of US$10 billion. The Australian operation has sales in excess of AUD$230 million.