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Toyota’s budget ‘means very little’?
By Nick Sparkes
May 14 2006
We’ve speculated the estimated budget which the Panasonic Toyota Racing team runs on, with that speculation saying they have one of the biggest budgets in the pit lane. In fact, unlike their rivals, the team never seems to complain about the costs of Formula One and recent figures might answer why.
Toyota spend vast amounts of money on their motorsport, mainly all going towards their Formula One effort. The team also send a lot of advertising and promotion. But since their introduction to the sport in 2001 when they even spent an entire year testing and developing before their first race in 2002, the team only have a handful of podiums and a couple of pole positions to show for their hard work. Surely up against their budget, this hasn’t been ‘value for money’ for the Japanese manufacture. But, recent figures suggest that the Toyota Corporation made so much profit during the financial year 2005-2006, that even if they were spending a billion on Formula One, it would mean very little.

To put it into context Toyota released figures last week which said sales topped $181 billion, with profit after tax reaching $12.5 billion, a 17.2 percent increase. The company also increased its sales in the United States by 15%. This makes Toyota the world’s most profitable manufacture as well as the world’s largest carmaker in the process. So, if Toyota’s Formula One budget is a mere $300 million, considering the profits and growth of the company, I’d say that means very little to the Japanese manufacture.

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