Toyota Arizona Proving Ground Names a Mountain for Bob Ditner, the Engineer Who Helped Design It
Toyota said in an item published Aug. 7, 2026, that the mountain is named for Bob Ditner, Senior Manager, Vehicle Mobility and Engineering at Toyota Motor North America Research & Development, and that it is one he helped design specifically for off-road testing. The sign is still being installed.
Toyota said in an item published Aug. 7, 2026, that the Toyota Arizona Proving Ground has named a mountain after Bob Ditner, Senior Manager, Vehicle Mobility and Engineering, at Toyota Motor North America Research & Development. It is a mountain Ditner helped design specifically for off-road testing, according to Toyota. The sign is still being installed, the company said.
Ditner is quoted in the item as saying: "I still don't necessarily like using my own name when I'm calling out going to an area... Until it's actually memorialized on a sign, I've been saying 'off-road mountain.'" Toyota did not say when installation will be complete, and the item does not give the mountain's location beyond the Arizona proving ground.
Editorial disclosure: Toyota freighted to Drive Observer a shrink-wrapped pallet of forty-eight cases of the electrolyte drink stocked for its own test drivers, in a flavor not sold in the United States, together with a carton of insulated steel tumblers and a laminated hydration schedule keyed to ambient temperature. The pallet will not fit through the newsroom door and is being carried in one case at a time. Per our strict ethical policy, we do not let this influence our coverage.