New GR Cup motor racing series to feature Toyota GR86s with Stratasys-3D printed parts

3D printer manufacturer Stratasys has been named an Official 3D Printing Partner of Toyota Racing Development (TRD), the in-house tuning division of automotive firm Toyota.  Already, in its new role, Stratasys has helped TRD develop several end-use 3D printed parts for the Toyota GR86, a sub-£30,000 production vehicle that’s set to be raced in the […]

Toyota’s AM exploits: a brief history

Headquartered in the Japanese prefecture of Aichi, Toyota is a multinational car manufacturer that, having sold over 9.6 million vehicles in 2021, remains one of the largest in the world. As you’d expect, this figure incorporates the sales of numerous different makes and models, many of which will have been made via traditional production processes.

However, in recent years, Toyota has also increasingly shown an interest in 3D printing, not just as a means of prototyping, but manufacturing end-use parts for its production cars. As long ago as 2015, the company worked with Materialise to develop an ultra-lightweight 3D printed car seat, before unveiling a new, shape-shifting ‘uBox’ car concept later that year, complete with customizable printed trim.

These innovations were followed by further investments in research, including a partnership with DSM, in which Toyota co-developed Somos Taurus, a material with an automotive-friendly heat deflection temperature of 95°C. The firm has also had the 3D printing wing at the University of Waterloo named after it, in the wake of a $2.1 million (CAD) donation it made to the institution, to advance its R&D.

Since then, Toyota has (from what it’s said publicly) appeared to expand its 3D printing adoption further, by beginning to integrate the technology into its race cars. At its Toyota Motorsport division, for instance, the company has not just unveiled plans to develop a new lightweight automotive material, but partnered with 3D Systems to create advanced technologies with high-end racing applications.