You’ve probably never heard the name “Calty.” But walk through any crowded parking lot in America, and you’ll see a dozen or more cars penned by the US design studio—you just don’t know it.
In 1973, Toyota established Calty in the US (Fun fact: the name “Calty” is the blending of “California” and “Toyota”). It was the first Japanese automaker to open a design studio in America, and it allowed Toyota to better understand the market. In the 52 years since, Calty has quietly designed some of America’s most popular cars.
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Photo by: Sean C. Rice | Motor1
Two Scale Models In the Lobby of Calty Design
The first US Celica, the original Tacoma, the original Prius, the Avalon, and the RAV4 all come from Calty. More recently, Calty worked its design magic on the new Land Cruiser and 4Runner SUVs. Plus, the company has top-secret projects behind closed doors.
The design firm’s 85,000 square-foot Newport Beach, California, facility is relatively small by most auto conglomerate standards, but holds all the tools necessary to bring Toyota’s ideas to life at scale.
A massive modeling mill transforms hunks of clay into rough vehicle designs in less than a day. A virtual reality studio allows Calty to share previews with its colleagues in the US and abroad. And two turntables on-property mean executives can see what the final product might look like on an auto show floor.
Being in the US, and with a small-ish team of around 120 employees between its Newport Beach and Ann Arbor, Michigan facilities, gives Calty a distinct advantage: More freedom to explore without Big Brother constantly looking over its shoulder.
Photo by: Sean C. Rice | Motor1
Photo by: Sean C. Rice | Motor1
“Sometimes when you have a small studio, you can operate outside of the corporate structure… You can get a pure statement out of a small studio,” President Kevin Hunter says as we walk through the halls of Calty’s Newport Beach facility. “I think that was really part of the role of the original Calty, was to take it out of Toyota’s corporate environment and let the designers create unfettered ideas.”
Hunter became president of Calty in 2007 after working for more than 40 years in various roles within the company. The biggest notches in his belt, prior to becoming head honcho, were the second-generation RAV4 and the experimental FXV concept from 1985.
Photo by: Calty Design Research
Kevin Hunter, President of Calty Design Research
Under Kevin’s leadership, Calty has sculpted some of the most jaw-dropping Toyota vehicles to date—including the sultry red sports car parked in its lobby. The FT-1 concept started as a relatively basic idea: What would a new Supra look like?
“We just thought something was missing from our lineup,” Kevin tells me. “We were inspired by Akio Toyoda, who is a racer and a car enthusiast, and we thought the timing would be really great, to propose that car to Toyota as a comeback message in our sports car lineup that had been missing. So we simply made a proposal to my boss… he loved the idea of bringing it back, and we got to work on it.”
Kevin tasked his team with creating a modern interpretation of the automaker’s iconic sports car. They would draw inspiration from CEO Akio Toyoda’s racing success and from the brand’s history books, examining cars like the 2000GT and fourth-gen Supra.
Photo by: Calty Design Research
‘Sometimes when you have a small studio you can operate outside of the corporate structure… You can get a pure statement out of a small studio.’
But even with Calty’s clear vision, the team went into the project mostly blind.
“When we developed FT-1, we had no package,” Kevin says. “So the BMW platform didn’t exist in our minds, we didn’t even know about it at the time.”
Since BMW and Toyota had yet to ink a deal on the production Supra and Z4, the FT-1 shared its proportions with the then-new Lexus LC500, which explains why the original concept was much larger than the production Supra. When Toyota green-lit the concept for production, that presented its own set of challenges.
“As a sports car, it’s a bit big,” Kevin notes of the FT-1. “So things had to get condensed down quite a bit to be that type of sports car. The biggest challenge getting it into production was taking these long, sexy, beautifully sculpted forms and condensing it down to a much smaller footprint.”
Photo by: Sean C. Rice | Motor1
Photo by: Calty Design Research
Photo by: Calty Design Research
The Toyota FT-1 Concept debuted at the Detroit Auto Show in 2014 after a relatively quick five months of development. The Supra went into production five years later in 2019. Even with Toyota pondering the idea of a new Supra in conjunction with BMW, though, it was the public’s reception that truly pushed the idea over the edge.
“You pour your heart and soul into these projects and sometimes you don’t know what the reaction will be. But we had a really good feeling there would be a lot of excitement around [FT-1]… I think Toyota looked at that also and went, ‘Hm, the reaction has been great. Maybe we can do something with it.'”
Photo by: Sean C. Rice | Motor1
‘You pour your heart and soul into these projects and sometimes you don’t know what the reaction will be. But we had a really good feeling there would be a lot of excitement around [FT-1].’
The FT-1 remains an all-time favorite for Kevin among the laundry list of vehicles he helped create throughout his 40-year career. But it’s a relatively small—albeit beautiful—piece of Calty’s history.
Most of Calty’s work is focused on volume sellers, rather than sleek concepts, and trucks and SUVs are a big part of Toyota’s business. The company has designed or had a major role in designing every generation of the 4Runner since 1983, the Tacoma since 1995, and more recently, models like the Tundra, the Sequoia, and of course, the venerable Land Cruiser.
“We understand the truck market very well in the US,” Kevin admits with a coy smile.
Photo by: Calty Design Research
Toyota Tacoma Design Sketches
One thing Calty wanted to ensure with the newest Land Cruiser specifically was that the iconic SUV returned to its roots. The squared-off proportions, rugged capabilities, and no-nonsense style were all crucial in returning the Land Cruiser to form.
“We had a really great history with the Land Cruiser, and we sort of went away from it. We went to a more luxury, more premium product. And we kind of lost focus on the roots of what Land Cruiser really was and represented—a pure, rugged statement. It was part of our history and part of our heritage, we just wanted to get back to that.”
New Toyota Land Cruiser
The Land Cruiser, as with any good design, started out as a sketch. Calty starts by ideating each project on paper, jotting down what—it hopes—will eventually translate into the final look. Once approved, those sketches are transformed into 3D renderings.
“The hardest part is getting from a sketch to a 3D property,” Kevin says. “Sketches are sketches—they’re 2D and you can work a lot of magic in 2D to make something look amazing. But putting that in 3D is another story. And then there are packaging constraints that we have for engineering, safety issues, all sorts of things that go into it to make it look amazing and incredible and beautiful.”
Photo by: Calty Design Research
Photo by: Calty Design Research
Although Calty works mostly unencumbered, safe from Toyota peering over its shoulder, every design must be approved by Japan. Executives across the Pacific ultimately have the final say.
“There’s always give and take,” Kevin notes.
But more recently, Toyota has opened up the door to Calty, allowing Kevin and his team to be more involved in each vehicle from the beginning. That means working closer with the engineering and product planning teams rather than designing around something that’s already in the later stages of development. That makes it easier for Kevin and his team to decide on what the final design could look like from the beginning—and ultimately, it yields better-looking vehicles.
“Over the last decade, designers have been involved in the early stages of the project,” he says. “So we have a hand in proportions, wheel size, tire diameter, overhangs, width, height—everything. So we can start with a good platform, a good architecture, which makes designing that product a lot easier as we move into figuring out what it’s going to look like from a styling point of view. Design has a good seat at the table, and I think you notice our products are getting better.”
Photo by: Sean C. Rice | Motor1
Most people would likely agree with that sentiment, especially lately. Toyota is on a roll. But for a brand as ubiquitous as Toyota, many are blind to the hundreds of designers who work tirelessly behind closed doors.
But for Kevin, name recognition isn’t important.
“I don’t know if the consumer thinks about Calty when they’re looking at a design, I hope they’re just thinking about the umbrella of Toyota. Saying, ‘Oh, Toyota is designing more exciting products, they’re producing more exciting cars that I like.’ And that helps all of our reputations… I like to think we’re one organization, one team all working together.”
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