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Toyota to Woo Younger Buyers Through Genesis Youth Project

2 September 1998

Toyota to Woo Younger Buyers Through Genesis Youth Project

    TORRANCE, Calif., Sept. 1 -- Toyota Motor Sales (TMS),
U.S.A., Inc. today announced it has assembled a new group of youthful-thinking
employees to help Toyota appeal to younger buyers.  The group, called the
Genesis Youth Project, formed this month and will work with Toyota's design
studios, product planning department, and other areas to develop youth-
oriented sales and marketing initiatives for the United States.
    "Our goal is to change our culture to become more hip to this very
important audience," says Mark Del Rosso, who heads up the team of eight
employees.  "While no one can question Toyota's quality and dependability, our
message and image to teenagers and young adults must change.  It all starts
with product, and now we have an opportunity to go after this important group
of consumers and market directly to them."
    Genesis means "the coming into being of something or the origin."  Del
Rosso explains, "With this project we're going back to our origin: the younger
buyers."  The current and future customers the Genesis Youth Project is
striving to reach are "The Busters," born between 1965-1979
(a.k.a. Generation X) and the "Net Generation," born between 1980-1994.
    "We've had a lot of success with the baby boomers.  Now, we need to gain
that same lifelong acceptance by the generations that follow them," states Del
Rosso.
    The first charge for the new group is to develop a Youth Brand Strategy
for Toyota that will make future and existing products more appealing to
upcoming generations of vehicle buyers.  Through innovative thinking, focus
groups and other research, the Genesis group will attempt to identify future
buying trends.  By working with existing Toyota departments, the group will
develop separate marketing strategies for key vehicles positioned toward
younger buyers.
    TMS' parent company in Japan, Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), created a
similar group last year named Virtual Venture Company.  The company is made up
of TMC employees, who report directly to TMC's president Hiroshi Okuda.
Genesis Youth Project employees report directly to Jim Press, TMS senior vice
president and general manager of automotive operations for both Toyota and
Lexus; and Don Esmond, TMS group vice president and general manager for the
Toyota Division.