Toyota launches Toyota Untold podcast—and, yes: it sure is pushing that ‘mobility’ buzzword mighty hard

Attention, podcast-loving car guys and car gals everywhere: thanks to Toyota, you can now pop in your earbuds and tap your touchscreens to a new destination: the Toyota Untold podcast, which the automaker announced today on their media website.

Notwithstanding the official December 18 launch date, the Toyota Untold feed on BeyondPod shows the upload date of the four-minute inaugural episode as December 3. Three additional episodes, ranging in length from about 40 minutes to over an hour, show a drop date of December 17, with the following titles:

• Episode 1: “Not a Car Company: Start Your Impossible”
• Episode 2: “Allyn Pierce’s ‘Marshmallow Tundra’”
• Episode 3: “Drive Fast, Turn Left: Racing with the Toyota Motorsports Team”

According to Toyota’s press release, the purpose of the podcast is to tell, starting from the company’s origins as a loom manufacturer, “the story of Toyota through the people who created it, lived it, and are dedicated to moving it into the future.”

The announcement promises a wide range of topics for Season 1, including robotics, motorsports and, predictably, “mobility”—that industry buzzword du jour that sends chills up the spine of many enthusiasts due to the blurry implications of just what the concept means for the future of motoring with an individual human driver in control of a vehicle that he or she owns.

In Episode 1, Toyota’s push from being a car company toward becoming “a mobility company” is repeated as a veritable mantra, although much of the usage is in the positive context of efforts to support the needs of paralympic athletes.

Toyota plans ten episodes for Season 1 of the Toyota Untold podcast. Among the guests on the three episodes that have dropped so far include:

• Toyota Division Group Vice President and General Manager Jack Hollis
• NASCAR drivers Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Eric Jones, and Martin Truex
• Hallie Deegan, Toyota’s youngest driver, billed as a motorsports teen phenom

Seven more episodes are set for release early next year, with topics to include the return of the Supra and the history of Lexus.

“We have a rich history and exciting future that we haven’t been able to tell through other communication channels,” stated Eric Booth, senior manager of external communications for Toyota Motor North America, in a quote in the press release that went on to make an interesting implication that industry influencers—namely, the automotive media—may be an important segment of the intended audience for the podcast.

“This podcast will allow our customers and the media to gather important information about our company, as well as hear about exciting products and initiatives we’re working to bring to market in the future.”