TRD Logo (™)
Toyota Racing Development (TRD) is Toyota’s in-house performance development and tuning division for Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehicle lines. At the time of writing there are two main divisions of TRD: Toyota Technocraft Co. Ltd or TRD Japan (established June of 1954) and TRD U.S.A. (established in 1979). TRD Japan was originally known as Toyota Sports Corner (TOSCO). In December of 2006 TRD officially expanded into Thailand with TRD Asia Co. Ltd. which was a new corporation made up with 80% shares owned by Toyota Technocraft Co., Ltd. and 20% by Toyota Tsusho Corporation. In August of 2007 Toyota Australia established TRD Australia which offered the first TRD production vehicles. Unfortunately the production was officially brought to a halt in March of 2009. Beyond superchargers TRD offers several optional and aftermarket performance parts including headers, mufflers, suspension parts, braking hardware and much more.
TRD Supercharger Kit for a 2003 Toyota Matrix
TRD has been in the business a long time and has an established reputation. Along with the quality that is expected of Toyota vehicles comes TRD’s outstanding professional racing results for both cars and trucks. They have a long list of participation coupled with impressive achievements. A complete list of achievements is beyond this article but to get an idea of just how deep their racing roots are we’ve included a list of series and racing leagues they have participated in:
– The Japanese division of TRD has raced in a variety of series including: All-Japan F3 Championship, ESSO Formula Toyota, Netz Cup (Vitz) and Super GT (JGTC).
– TRD U.S.A. has been raced in Baja 1000, Championship World Series (CART), Championship Off Road Racing (CORR), Grand-Am Cup Sports Touring, Indy Racing League, International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series, National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) and Toyota Atlantic Series.
– Toyota Team Europe which is now known as Toyota Forumla One Team has raced in 24 Hours of Le Mans, Forumla One World Championship Racing (F1) and World Rally Championship (WRC).
A couple of noteworthy achievements: TRD was the first to factory fit an Eaton TVS supercharger in a production car with the 2008 TRD Aurion. Also, in 2000 Toyota was able to grab a CART win with a TRD built engine. This was the first American built engine to win an Indy race in 20 years. Using that same design by 2002 they were able to take the Indy Series Championship.
Unfortunately, in 2015 Toyota discontinued support for the TRD Supercharger program. The majority of their offers were Roots type but they also had a centrifugal compressor for the Scion.