Toyota pays $835 Million for Olympic Promotion

After parting ways with Elon Musk’s Tesla and taking a different road in providing alternative technologies for the future, Toyota made a big move in securing its marketing presence at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Japan and especially Toyota are looking to use the 2020 Olympic Games as a stage for promoting its hydrogen infrastructure. Toyota has already secured its status as the first Japanese carmaker to go into the fuel-cell car business, although criticism for this decision was quick to come even from Tesla Motor, voiced by Elon Musk – who referred to Toyota’s fuel-cell technology as “fool-cell”.

Toyota couldn’t care less about what critics say and is set on staying faithful to its plans as last Friday, Japanese carmaker officials agreed on a deal that makes Toyota global sponsors of the 2020 Games.

According to the Associated Press, Toyota will pay a record $835 million to join the International Olympic Committee’s TOP. The Olympic Partner sponsorship program allows companies to use the Olympic rings while advertising their products but also grants exclusive worldwide marketing rights.

The deal is taking effect immediately and will run until 2024. With this move, Toyota secured the coverage of the 2020 Tokyo Games and the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. However, the Lexus and Scion brands are not included in the deal, which means the main focus will be on the Toyota Mirai fuel-cell vehicle.

Is this just a coincidence? Definitely not, at least not since at least 35 hydrogen fueling stations will be built between now and 2020 in Tokyo. In addition, the municipality is looking to spend around $385 million on fuel-cell car subsidies alone, so the picture we’re looking that is not only big, but also promising.