As part of the deal, which is through The Olympic Partner program, all Olympic activities will exclusively use Toyota-branded vehicles, from passenger cars to commercial vehicles. Additionally, Toyota will also hold the Olympic rights to “transportation support systems” and “certain transportation and mobility support products.”
“We will do everything possible to fulfill our new role in The Olympic Partner program, and justify the trust the IOC has placed in us,” said Toyota President Akio Toyoda. “The addition of a mobility category to the TOP Partner field is an important recognition for our entire industry. Under this Olympic flag, let us today reaffirm the power of sports to bring people together.”
Toyota’s IOC sponsorship will take effect immediately in Japan and run through 2016. Toyota’s rights will be extended globally in 2017. That means Toyota will miss out on the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but the deal will be in place in time for the 2020 Summer games in Tokyo.
The terms of the deal remain unknown, but some Japanese outlets have reported the sponsorship will cost Toyota somewhere in the neighborhood of $835 million.
No automaker has ever been a top sponsor of The Olympic Partner program.
Separately, the Japanese government has announced plans to have 6,000 fuel-cell-powered vehicle on Tokyo roads by the 2020 Olympics. No link has been made between that goal and Toyota’s decision to sponsor Olympic activities.
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