"I love to take things apart and put them back together to make them better" ~Recently promoted, Monte Kaehr, Camry Chief Engineer

ANN ARBOR, Mich., April 15, 2014 — (PRNewswire) —  As a boy, Monte Kaehr was always curious how things work.  Once the item of choice was disassembled he would try to put it back together to make it even better.  This mindset is the core of what engineers do, so it seemed only natural to pursue a career in engineering.

Toyota Technical Center (TTC), a division of Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing, N.A. (TEMA) recently announced the promotion of the fifth American Chief Engineer (CE), Monte Kaehr- CE of the Toyota Camry.

"At Toyota, we believe there is always a better way.  Even though the Camry is the best-selling car in America, I wanted to make it better," Kaehr said.  "One area I wanted to improve was dynamic performance so we held dynamic clinics with over 100 standard-mid segment customers in three different locations across North America.  I sat in the back seat with the team of engineers and observed as customers drove the Camry in a variety of conditions.  This feedback guided key changes that make the Camry more stable, confident and fun to drive".

Kaehr joined Toyota Motor Corporation in Toyota City, Japan in 1992 as a design engineer in the Body Design Division.   In 1998, he transferred to TTC (Ann Arbor, MI), where he has progressed through a series of positions in Body Engineering and Product Development.  In 2009, he moved to the Product Development Office as an Executive Program Manager, where he was a member of the Avalon project team. Most recently, Kaehr was responsible for the North American Camry's overall design and engineering development for TTC.  Kaehr began his automotive engineering career in 1988 at Borg Warner Automotive in the Automotive Development Engineering, responsible for drive-train transmission systems. Kaehr earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University.

"As chief engineer, my job is to guide and empower my team of engineers to create a better car," said Kaehr.  "We have a strong team of engineers that are always considering how to make the vehicle better.  Harnessing these creative ideas and forming them into the new Camry was extremely rewarding".

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE: TM), the world's top automaker and creator of the Prius, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through our Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands.  Over the past 50 years, we've built more than 25 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ more than 40,000 people (more than 32,000 in the U.S.).  Our 1,800 North American dealerships (1,500 in the U.S.) sold more than 2.5 million cars and trucks (more than 2.2 million in the U.S.) in 2013 – and about 80 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 20 years are still on the road today.  

Toyota partners with philanthropic organizations across the country, with a focus on education, safety and the environment.  As part of this commitment, we share the company's extensive know-how garnered from building great cars and trucks to help community organizations and other nonprofits expand their ability to do good. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyotanewsroom.com. 

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SOURCE Toyota

Contact:

Toyota Cindy Mahalak 734.788.3214