Toyota Says 10 New Models in 2010; FT-86 a Scion?

[West]

Bob Carter, group vice president and general manager of the Toyota Division for Toyota Sales U.S.A., met with reporters in Detroit Monday to talk about NUMMI, floor mats, and corporate President Akio Toyoda quoting the book, "How the Mighty Fall." First, though, let's get to the crux of the Q&A -- will the rear-drive FT-86 sports coupe developed with Subaru be sold in North America as a Toyota, or as a Scion?

"It's a concept," was the initial answer. Yeah, right.

Carter added, "When you come into sports cars, that's the fun. That's what gets your blood boiling. The reality of it is, there are pluses and minuses for both. It's an exciting car, but when you get into sports cars and compare them with Corollas, Camrys and RAV4s, the volumes just aren't there. So it becomes a debate, where can you best market low-volume? Is it better to market that as a Toyota product or a Scion product? And it could go either way."




If it becomes a Scion when it comes here in early 2012, it would likely be the most expensive model in that lineup, probably well over $20,000. Given what Carter said about Corolla/Camry/RAV4 volume, though, I'd bet Toyota in the U.S. is leaning toward the Scion brand instead of the Toyota brand.

In the short-term, Carter says Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. plans 10 new models in the coming calendar year, both all-new models and replacements for existing models. The Sienna minivan will be all new save for the tires, with a big fuel economy story, he says. It makes its debut at the Los Angeles International Auto Show later this year. He says Toyota remains committed to the North American-only Scion brand, and will refresh its model lineup quickly.

Toyota plans to enter the battery electric vehicle market in 2012, in keeping up with Nissan, and plans to add a hydrogen fuel-cell model about 2015. Will it be a volume model, or more like Honda's FCX Clarity?

Depends on infrastructure, Carter says.

As for the big issues Carter addressed at the outset:

* "When GM exited bankruptcy, their decision to no longer buy product from NUMMI (the joint-venture Pontiac Vibe/Toyota Corolla/Tacoma assembly plant in Freemont, California) left us with no alternatives for continuing our joint ventures. The plant is not financially feasible without a partner, so we announced our intention to stop sourcing product there at the end of our current fiscal year next March." Tacoma production moves to the Tundra plant in San Antonio, Texas, and Corolla will be split between Canada and Japan, eventually shifting the portion from Japan to North America when possible.

* "Next is the floor mat recall. We issued a major consumer safety advisory urging owners to remove driver side floor mats on a number of our models to eliminate the potential for a loose or incompatible floor mat to pose a threat to our owners." However, Toyota believes there is no problem with factory floor mats properly attached to original equipment fastener hooks. "The question of unintended acceleration involving Toyota vehicles has been thoroughly investigated by NHTSA's engineering experts without any finding of defect other than an unsecured or incompatible driver's floor mat. ... In one example of (NHTSA's) stringent testing, multiple signals were introduced into the electrical system to test the robustness of the electronics against failures due to interference." NHTSA found no such interference, he says.

* President Akio Toyoda followed up his statement that he thinks Toyota is at "stage 4" of the management book, "How the Mighty Fall," described as "grasping for salvation," by saying he thinks Toyota can move out of stage 4, "because it is blessed with the best dealers and employees in the world." Carter added that "many people online expressed admiration for Akio's honest assessment and his desire to change the company for the better."

No question, Toyota is facing more scrutiny and criticism since it became the world's largest automaker in the last couple of years. And Carter addressed Detroit journalists to try and rebuild some of the goodwill -- real or perceived -- that it had up to that point, thanks to revered management and production techniques and cars like the Prius.

I asked Carter about the current Toyota Tundra, the truck its maker hoped would start to challenge Ford F-150, Chevy Silverado and Dodge Ram with high volumes, until the pickup and then the entire market collapsed. Carter says that when Tacoma production moves to San Antonio, the plant will have the type of production flexibility for which Toyota is known. Toyota still holds out hope that its Tundra will become a major player in the full-size pickup market. Even if it doesn't, the flexibility assures that the big, state-of-the-art multi-million-dollar production facility will be a Toyota-style success.


Source: Toyota Says 10 New Models in 2010; FT-86 a Scion? | Car News Blog at Motor Trend

[Exitspeed]

Damn I don't like all the pussy-footin around. Quit jaggin us around and give us some cold hard facts. At LEAST tell us you're committed to bringing this car to the market.

[Cal]

Ah got to love management talk, answering questions not asked, and dodging the hell out of direct questions with bullshit that doesnt make sense.

[Exitspeed]

I like how they say they are committed to the Tundra even though it'll more then likely never see the success of the Silverado, Ram, and F-Series, but they won't commit to the FT86 despite the countless forums out there begging for the car.

[mRodiek]

They gotta give us some more than that lol its a game of cat & mouse