Charan Lota began loving cars as a child. He was born in London, but his family relocated to Detroit early on. That’s where his father began buying old beater cars and working with his son to fix them up.

Fast forward to today when Lota, as group vice president of the Connected Experiences Division (CXD) is proudly leading the team that worked with Toyota Connected to develop a more responsive, intuitive multimedia system unveiled in the new RAV4 and coming to the new Highlander and Lexus ES in the next few months.

It’s hard to believe there isn’t a connection between the boy who wrenched on cars with his dad and the executive gushing about his team’s accomplishments.

Let’s explore. Please watch the video below.