1 Toyota gave itself, its customers, dealers, suppliers and employees nearly four years to implement the manufacturing closure in Australia. What were the main specific challenges the company would face in that period?

By 2014, Toyota had become a very successful global automaker with 53 overseas manufacturing companies in 28 countries and regions, and vehicles sold in more than 170 countries and regions. Toyota was seen by many industries and researchers as a benchmark of 'world's best practice' in operational excellence, which in Toyota was referred to as the Toyota Production System (TPS).

More generally, Toyota built on the core values created by its founders and had implemented its Toyota Way philosophy since 2001, based on two pillars of respect for people and continuous improvement, driving customer value creation and constantly pursuing perfection. These approaches have raised Toyota to a point where its vehicles were viewed by many customers as being high in their 'value proposition', based on reliability and durability, especially at the competitive price points that were offered to customers.