Toyota’s very own Area 51 is now being revealed to the public. 31 years after its establishment, Toyota invited journalists from Arizona’s Family into their hidden Sonoran Desert facility. Thanks to this interview the public is finally getting an opportunity to learn how the award winning manufacturer tests and evaluates the performance and comfort standards of their impressive lineup of vehicles. Join the Toyota of Plano team as we take a first look at Toyota Arizona Proving Grounds, located 60 miles northwest of Phoenix.
So what is the Toyota Arizona Proving Grounds, and why should you care? The $100 million dollar Toyota Arizona Proving Ground(TAPG) facility, finished just over 3 decades ago, has played a crucial role in the development of almost 50 different Toyota and Lexus models. In fact, most of Toyota’s North American models, on the road today, had to make it through rigorous testing at TAPG before ever making it to market.
The unforgiving, outdoor testing facility features a 10 mile track, with a staggering 60 lane miles of pavement and several off-roading tracks to simulate different levels of terrain. The paved portions of the testing facility are equipped to evaluate vehicles reaching speeds of up to 160 mph, with common obstacles such as potholes, cracks, snow and even ice. On the other hand, the facility’s extensive off-roading trails are less focused on resilience when speeding and more focused on vehicle functionality when enduring tough obstacles, such as sand and rock climbing hills.
While Toyota’s Arizona testing facility does not actually share a name with Nevada’s popularized Area 51, the impressive Toyota Arizona Proving Grounds(TAPG) shares an equally mysterious history. Although the proving grounds were completed in 1993, the public still hadn’t received much information about the 12,000 acre desert facility until now. In fact, Bob Ditner, senior project manager at Toyota Proving Grounds, said “it’s really secretive out here; we are way out here in no man’s land in Wittmann…It’s our little slice of confidentiality”. Toyota’s Proving Grounds for many years remained so secretive that many Toyota team members weren’t even aware of its existence, but thanks to mapping websites like Google Earth, eventually images of the facility began surfacing on the internet. This caused the testing grounds to become more publicly known. For those that are not familiar with Area 51, the origin of its popularity stems from the hundreds of conspiracy theories that arose after many years without the U.S government's formal acknowledgement of the military testing facility - while there hasn’t been nearly as much attention placed on Toyota’s Arizona Proving Grounds, the air of mystery surrounding the facility has remained quite intriguing to those that have been fortunate to come across the site.
Facilities, like the Toyota Arizona Proving Ground, provide Toyota Engineers with the ideal conditions to fine tune features like crawl control and multi-train selection. The rough terrain also gives the team an opportunity to evaluate the level of passenger comfort while using different settings and the effectiveness of new and existing features. This insight allows the Toyota team to effectively refine features to better cater to the North American consumer lifestyle.
While the Toyota Arizona Proving Ground is not the only Toyota evaluation site, it is Toyota’s largest testing facility and one of the largest of its kind in the world. Thanks to Arizona’s constant sunny and warm weather conditions, Toyota decided it was the ideal location for testing their rigid lineup of vehicles. The location’s sometimes extreme temperatures has even given engineers an opportunity to evaluate hot-weather performance and exposure testing. In fact, Toyota was strategic in placing an evaluation facility in a location with weather conditions similar to Arizona’s, because while the manufacturer’s research and development team is headquartered in Michigan, during the winter months harsh conditions limit their ability to test locally. Having a facility in Arizona allows Toyota to put their vehicles to the test year-round.
At Toyota of Plano, we pride ourselves in offering an extensive selection of new and used Toyota vehicles. Facilities like TAPG allow our Toyota of Plano team to feel confident that we are offering the best products to our loyal customers. In addition to Toyota’s thorough testing, each vehicle on our lot is certified in-house by our expert Toyota of Plano service team before ever reaching the showroom floor. This additional quality check allows our team to remain confident in the performance, safety and comfort standards of all Toyota vehicles sold on our lot. When you visit Toyota of Plano you’ll find everything from 2022 Tundras and 2022 Sequoias to the 2022 GR Supra and the 2022 Toyota Corolla. Our large selection gives our Toyota of Plano team the ability to cater to all customers' different lifestyles. Visit us today, and find the perfect vehicle to complement your lifestyle.
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