Katsuaki Watanabe in Tokyo on Monday. (AP)

Tokyo, Feb. 18 (Reuters): Toyota Motor Corp on Monday took the wraps off its remodelled Crown sedan, the first car to incorporate the cost-cutting strategy that the auto maker hopes will help it save at least $2.8 billion a year.

Toyota began work three years ago on the ambitious plan, called VI for Value Innovation, which seeks to lump some of the tens of thousands of car components together to form modules and systems. Analysts have been keen to see the fruits of the scheme for hints to its impact on the car’s price, features and eventually the competitiveness of parts suppliers.

The 13th incarnation of the high-end Crown series features many examples of cost-cutting measures under the VI plan, enabling Toyota to cap the car’s price while packing more safety and other features compared with the previous generation, the company said.

“We were able to enhance the car’s cost performance through the VI efforts,” Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe told a news conference.

For example, he said, the new Crown combined some electronic control units, or mini-computers that control everything from power steering to windshield wipers, with components called actuators to create a simpler module and drive down costs.

That in turn enabled Toyota to offer its advanced vehicle stability and safety system across the series as a standard feature, he said.

Wire harnesses and connectors were also integrated, while engineers drastically altered the designs of the keyless entry system and some body parts — all of which lowered production costs, Watanabe said.

Masatami Takimoto, executive vice-president in charge of Toyota’s drivetrain technology, declined to disclose how much the VI plan saved the company in the Crown. But he said the auto maker was able to reduce the number of main electronic control units to four from 60, as it had set out to do.