History

“Why does a car that took six hours to make at a factory sit around at the dealership for weeks?” The roots of TC go back to a question asked by Akio Toyoda (the current Chairman of the Board of Directors of Toyota Motor Corporation) who was Chief General Manager of operations at Toyota Motor Corporation at the time. Thus, in 1996, the "Operation Improvement Support Department" (Team CS) was established, with 70 members stationed at dealerships nationwide, including Shigeki Tomoyama (the former president of TC). They were engaged in activities to improve business operations at dealerships, making full use of TPS and IT. In the course of those activities, they noticed something important: “The automobile business isn’t over once a car has been sold. Maintaining a relationship with the customer and the car that has been sold should be an essential part of its foundation.” As a result, the "GAZOO," visual information system, was introduced in 1997. Computer terminals installed in dealerships made it possible to browse new and used cars available at dealerships throughout the country. It was a revolutionary system for its time. An Internet website, "GAZOO.com," was also launched. Furthermore, a shopping portal, "GAZOO Shopping Mall," was opened to sell lifestyle products related to music, travel, fashion, and so on, with the intent of "enhancing the enjoyment of lifestyles involving cars." Toyoda and Tomoyama launched "GAZOO Media Service Corporation" with the intent of using IT to create touch points with customers after foreseeing that a time was coming in which IT and the automotive industry would become inseparable. That company became the TOYOTA Connected of today.

In 2000, "E-TOWER" multimedia kiosks became a hot topic when they were installed in 7,000 convenience stores nationwide. "E-TOWER" was a multifunction computer terminal that could accept SD cards, memory sticks, MiniDiscs, and other various media types, and was capable of downloading music and games via satellite, updating car navigation map data, reserving event tickets, printing digital camera photos, and providing ATM functionality. Collaboration between different industries produced revolutionary services, and this innovative business model that expanded touch points with customers even further went on to become the inspiration for services that TC is developing. The introduction of dedicated terminals that symbolize “Pursuing the Ultimate Customer Satisfaction”— which is our goal — caught the attention of the media at the time.