Joint Development of Exterior Panels for Toyota’s Concept Car Utilizing Wood
Display at Milan Design Week 2016
Joint Development of Exterior Panels for Toyota’s Concept Car Utilizing Wood
Display at Milan Design Week 2016
Sumitomo Forestry Co., Ltd. (President and Representative Director: Akira Ichikawa, Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; hereafter “Sumitomo Forestry”) announces the joint development of exterior panels for Setsuna, a concept car by Toyota Motor Corporation (President: Akio Toyoda; Head Office: Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture; hereafter “Toyota”) designed and produced using wood.
The name “Setsuna” (meaning “momentary” in Japanese) was chosen with the hope that, as people experience precious, fleeting moments with their car over and over, it will become irreplaceable to them. As a family spends time and goes through life’s changes with their family car, love grows as memories accumulate and get passed on to the next generation. This concept car shows this new connection between people and their cars.
With the passing of time, a car’s existence becomes unique as it increases in character and depth. In addition, through proper care, a car can continue to be driven from generation to generation. These and other factors led Toyota to choose wood as the material for realizing this concept. Sumitomo Forestry shares this same philosophy, leading to the joint development.
For this joint development, Sumitomo Forestry takes on the role of producing the wooden exterior panels (car body). To realize the concept, Sumitomo Forestry not only proposed the design, processing, and assembly of the wooden parts, but also selected the types of wood for various parts such as the frame and panels, as well as shared knowledge regarding wooden structures.
In order for maintenance to be carried out easily, the exterior panels have been designed to be easily replaced. For assembly, techniques utilized in housing have been adopted, such as a traditional Japanese wooden building method that does not make use of nails or screws.
Care was taken to use only timber produced in Japan for the concept car. Japanese cedar from Sumitomo Forestry’s company-owned forests in Kochi Prefecture was used for the exterior panels, and expertise regarding timber was also provided.
Sumitomo Forestry has been passing on the value of wood for more than 320 years since it was established in 1691. Currently in Japan, it is said the asset value of houses draw close to zero after 20 years. However, old houses built with good wood are growing in value, as they increase in character and beauty over the years depending on how the material was selected and being maintained.
As a corporation with wood at the center of its operations, Sumitomo Forestry seeks out new possibilities for wood, promoting its MOCCA business to use wooden construction and timber in fields beyond residential housing. Through this new venture into the field of cars, Sumitomo Forestry continues to contribute to achieving an abundant society by utilizing wood in an even wider range of fields
Overview of Setsuna concept car
Overall length: 3,030mm
Overall width: 1,480mm
Overall height: 970mm
Types of wood: Exterior panels: Japanese cedar; instrument panel and seats: castor aralia; steering wheel: Japanese cypress; frame: Japanese birch; floor: Japanese zelkova
Overview of display at the Milan Design Week 2016 (Salone, Milano)
Exhibitor Duration Venue: Toyota Motor Corporation
