Toyota is hoping a logo and typeface redesign will help cement its brand as a mobility provider in the minds of European consumers.
The reworking of both logo and typography is a bid to visualize Toyota’s transition from an automaker into a mobility company. It says the redesigns have been developed for an increasingly diverse customer base that is “coming to Toyota for an expanding range of mobility products and services” beyond that of just buying automobiles.
The redesigns are extremely subtle simplifications of the existing brand imagery, yet the automaker hopes this will be enough to hit its four key ambitions of “forward-thinking, mobile-ready, more premium feel and consistency across all business units and sub-brands.” In detail, the brand logo is now a simple, two-dimensional design with the Toyota wordmark deleted, the automaker assuming the emblem itself is well enough known across continental markets.
The new logo will be applied across all communication outlets, while the current logo will continue to be used for Toyota vehicles. The current retailer signage also will remain in place and will be reviewed in the Toyota 2025 Network Strategy.
At the same time, the company now will use a new, bespoke typography dubbed Toyota Type. This will be applied to both on- and off-line environments and, says the automaker, “marks a step-up in digital readiness as the company expands its online retailing in Europe.”
There has been no indication whether this branding will be rolled out to Toyota’s other global markets.
Didier Gambert, Toyota Motor Europe vice president-sales, marketing and customer experience, says: “We developed the new brand visual design with ‘tomorrow’ in mind. Our focus was on enabling ever-better customer connections, allowing them to keep pace with Toyota’s rapid expansion of electrified vehicles, mobility services and online retailing.
“They can experience it for the first time with the launch of the new Yaris Hybrid, the all-new fourth generation of our innovative city car.”
