One of the latest ways Toyota is applying kaizen is through TNGA, which stands for Toyota New Global Architecture. This is a modular platform-building idea to save costs, similar to what Volkswagen uses with its MQB, MLB, and MEB platforms.
Toyota says that TNGA is more than just the engineering and design of the vehicle. It’s a program that improves the Toyota Production System (the way Toyota makes cars) and helps align production planning and vehicle design.
Platform Sharing: The Many Faces of TNGA
TNGA-based vehicles are available across the entire Toyota and Lexus line-ups, including models from the Toyota Yaris to the LandCruiser 300 Series and Lexus LC. The first TNGA car was the fourth-generation Toyota Prius.
TNGA Benefits
Designers and engineers of TNGA vehicles can choose between five different seat heights, shared systems like powertrains and drivetrains, and other mechanical parts to design various types of vehicles, from small cars to large SUVs.
One major benefit of TNGA is cost efficiency. By sharing parts across different vehicles, Toyota can save money. TNGA allows Toyota to replace over 100 different platform variations with just five and reduce over 800 engine types to just 17 versions of nine engine families. This efficiency means each TNGA part is up to 20% cheaper to produce than older parts.
These savings continue in the production process. With more parts sharing, different models can be built on a single production line. This flexibility allows for quick adjustments based on customer demand. It also leads to smaller, more efficient factories for TNGA-only vehicles.
TNGA has also led to redesigning specific production equipment, such as smaller and more eco-friendly paint booths and efficient machines for making dashboards.
Improved Safety and Performance
TNGA’s advanced chassis technologies have also improved the safety of Toyota cars. TNGA vehicles can include the latest Toyota Safety Sense features and offer better structural rigidity for crash protection.
Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda, who likes to brand himself as ‘Morizo’ and is the company’s top test driver, aims to change Toyota’s image of making boring cars. TNGA is a key part of this plan. The platform's design includes a low center of gravity and high-strength materials to improve rigidity without adding weight.
TNGA focuses on the mechanical parts, allowing designers the freedom to create unique vehicle styles.
TNGA Variants and Notable Exceptions
TNGA comes in six different versions, classified by vehicle size. From smallest to largest, these are TNGA-B for light cars like the Yaris, TNGA-C, TNGA-K, TNGA-F (for models like the LandCruiser 300 Series), TNGA-N, and TNGA-L for full-size luxury vehicles like the Lexus LS.
Lexus often uses shortened forms of the platform names, like ‘GA-C’ instead of TNGA-C, in its marketing.
Interestingly, the GR Yaris, which looks like a simple 3-door Yaris, uses a hybrid platform combining TNGA-B for the front and TNGA-C for the rear. This allows for a more advanced rear suspension design.
Two recent models that don’t use TNGA are the ‘reimagined’ Lexus IS and the newly revealed GR 86. The new IS is a major facelift of the older model and still uses the old ‘N’ platform, now replaced by TNGA-N in other vehicles.
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