Why Toyota Must Make Its Joint-Venture Coupe
By Michelle Krebs August 7, 2009The case of the maybe-we're-making-it-or-maybe-we're-not Toyota-Subaru joint-venture sport
coupe was solved by new Toyota Motor Corp. president Akio Toyoda when he told reporters this week he was prioritizing development of the rear-drive car.
Although the coupe's development program was known, its status as a "live" project has been the topic of speculation. Toyoda's comment confirmed the company is committed to the project.
As the new president of the company, Toyoda, seemingly to underscore his dedication to addressing the conservative corporate culture that is perceived as holding Toyota back, said this week of the sport coupe, "I am very excited about it and I plan to put it on the fast track."
As AutoObserver.com reported last spring, Toyota had openly announced last spring -- immediately after the company doubled its holding in Fuji Heavy Industries Inc., parent of Subaru -- the two companies would co-develop a small, affordable sport coupe and the engine would be a four-cylinder of Subaru's signature "boxer" horizontally opposed design. The car reputedly was to have a dedicated platform and come sometime in the 2010-2011 timeframe.
But after that, there were questions of Toyota's commitment. Then the global recession hit. And Toyota started to lose money.
Maybe there wasn't time during this week's speech, but Toyoda mentioned neither rear-wheel drive nor a dedicated platform when saying the car would become a priority for the company that has been wearing the reputation of embracing a corporate favor for development of sedans and crossovers of clinical reliability and refinement rather than the more emotional, less-practical models Toyota has all but abandoned.
In recent years, Toyota has discontinued every sport coupe from its mainstream Toyota brand, dropping the rear-drive Supra in 2002 and the front-drive Celica and two-seat MR-2 Spyder in 2005. In its home market, too, the rap on Toyota long has been it no longer cares about "interesting" cars.
France's L'Automobile reported in March the new Toyota-Subaru joint-venture coupe was a live project and is earmarked to revive the Celica nameplate, which over the years was worn by both front- and rear-drive coupes. When the car was first announced by Toyota, Subaru said it also would sell a version and would offer the car in the U.S. market. -- Bill Visnic
Photo by Toyota
2005 Toyota Celica GTS was the last year of the model.
LEAVE A COMMENT
Click here to comment on this entry.We know Toyota used to be able to build really interesting cars--the Supra, MR2, yes, but also the Celica All-Trac, the original RAV4, and going all the way back to the tiny Sports 800 and the 2000GT.
But does the will still exist? Maybe if they call it a Scion mX?
Toyota was always very hesitant to jump on the sport cars band wagon. The bean counters kept a tight fist and control over operations.
Perhaps the company can use the NUMMI plant to source this platform, leading to more manufacturing employment in northern CA.
Corolla FX16 GT-S and Corolla AE86, Toyota even made a few FTD economy cars and the original Cruiser and HiLux trucks were fun to drive even if they were not fast.
Most people will agree that Toyota needs to incorporate more fun to drive into their vehicles. What I'm concerned about is recent comments from Toyota management that they need to make the North American vehicles "more" American in design. I disagree with this strongly in that I believe that Toyota strayed from their Japanese design and management in North America and just kept making their vehicles bigger and even duller.
NUMMI is a UAW plant. Ain't happenin'.
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