TOKYO: At Japan Mobility Show 2025, Toyota Motor Corp debuted its IMV Origin which is a no-frills, compact flatbed utility vehicle for users in rural areas to customise and repair easily.
Toyota Motor Corp president and CEO Koji Sato said that the automaker "had in mind, people living in rural villages in Africa" when planning the IMV Origin.
Sato explained there were two key ideas behind the IMV Origin.
"The first idea was: "We will ship this vehicle from our production plant unfinished." It is the local people who assemble and complete it. This brings new local jobs in the form of assembly work."
The second idea was that customers would define the vehicle on their own terms, even after it's assembled.
"We just build the base. From there, each customer completes the vehicle to fit their needs. People have different needs in their daily life and work," he said.
The IMV Origin is a vehicle that takes on the challenge of constant reinvention based on the concept of "deliberate incompleteness", explained Sato.
