Toyota engineers will be sporting helmets for the second consecutive year as they represent the company in the 2022 Rebelle Rally competition, beginning later this week. Toyota will have three teams in the annual off-road navigation rally, exclusively for women competitors covering 2,500 kilometers of terrain across the Nevada and California desert, that runs from October 6-15.
The Toyota teams feature four team members from Toyota’s production engineering division in Georgetown, Kentucky – which is the bridge between Research & Development and Manufacturing that designs and builds the assembly lines, machines and factories that produce vehicles – and two from the North American R&D headquarters in Michigan working on product development and vehicle performance.
Two teams will compete with 2022 Toyota Tundra models: Team 152, production engineering’s Samantha Barber and Becky Brophy in a Limited TRD Off-Road; Team 153, Crystal Mink and Kara Yde from R&D in a TRD Pro. The other team, Team 182, featuring Libby Perego and Caroline Koenig from production engineering, will compete in the “SHEquoia,” a specially branded Toyota Sequoia making its second consecutive appearance in the event.
The Rebelle Rally is not a race for speed, but a unique and demanding event based on the elements of headings, hidden checkpoints, time and distance using maps, compass and roadbook.
For Toyota, the experience enables its engineers to become more intimately familiar with the vehicles in which they are competing to support the company philosophy of continuous improvement. The participants relay the experiences back into their respective organizations to help make ever-better vehicles for customers.
“The Rebelle Rally is the ultimate go-and-see opportunity to experience the diverse ways customers use our products,” said Kara Yde, senior program manager in the Product Development Office on the full-size truck team.
Toyota is the presenting partner of Rebelle Rally’s Live Webcast, which will be broadcasting throughout the competition, offering updates and interviews with participants from checkpoints along the way.
“The visibility generated by this event to the overlanding and off-road capabilities of our vehicles is a huge asset to the Toyota brand,” said Tyler McBride, senior manager for the Toyota Brand and Growth Audiences at Toyota Motor North America. “It’s also an opportunity to showcase Toyota vehicles to women considering a full-size pick-up truck or SUV as their vehicle of choice to support their lifestyle.”
Live tracking to follow the progress of Toyota Teams along with the Live Webcast will be available at https://www.rebellerally.com/.
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About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs more than 48,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 43 million cars and trucks at our 13 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 14th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, more than a quarter of the company’s 2021 North American sales were electrified.
Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.
