A plan to make Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG) into an equivalent of Mercedes-Benz's iconic AMG performance sub-brand appears to have been drastically cut back, reshaped or abandoned altogether.
Revealed to Australian journalists during a visit to TMG two years ago by president Yoshiaki Kinoshita, the plan envisaged a range of highly modified Toyota and Lexus vehicles led by the twin turbo V8 LS TMG Sports 650 TMG launched at the Essen show in November 2012.
But during another visit yesterday to TMG near Cologne by Australian media, business operations director Rob Leupen detailed a very different public role for the company best known for running Toyota's defunct world rally championship and Formula One programs, as well as its current World Endurance Championship attack.
"I don't think you will find in the next four or five years a TMG car in any dealership," he declared.
Instead, he said, TMG was providing "ongoing" vehicle development assistance to Toyota across a wide range of areas.