"Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away..."
Interesting. Mitsubishi has invited Toyota to invest in a passenger jet plane project.
Toyota spokeswoman Kayo Doi said: "Mitsubishi Heavy has invited us to invest (in the venture) and we are considering it." To date no decision has been made by Toyota.
If Toyota decides to go forth with this, I wonder if FHI (Subaru) might also be involved, as they have a ton of aircraft experience, and are partially owned by Toyota?..
So might we see Toyota and Mitsubishi go head-to-head with Honda with their HondaJet?
Full story here.
Full story here.
estreka says:
10:05 AM, 03/ 7/08
I don't think the marketplace is that underserviced. The HondaJet itself, while sales are soaring (pun intended) is still just a niche vehicle. While it is statistically superior to normal plane designs, most customers prefer the tried and true original designs.
tryan says:
12:30 PM, 03/ 7/08
I have a personal relation to this market and the VLJ sector is literally taking off. All you need is one look at the SECURED orders for the Eclipse 500 (2700+). Those are AMAZING numbers for any commercially available aircraft, let alone a private jet. Keep in mind that the HondaJet has not achieved FAA Certification yet (expected in 2010)and that many people hold off placing orders until certification is received, much like what happened with Eclipse.
I am, however, concerned that supply will outpace demand sooner rather than later, given that the PiperJet, D-Jet, Cirrus' "The Jet" (Which also represents a reprisal of the infamous V-Tail made popular by the Beechcraft Bonanza), the HondaJet and even a single engine Eclipse Jet are being staged to come to market. While I wholeheartedly believe in the business case the manufacturers use as justification for being in the market, I'm afraid that unless AirTaxi services like DayJet become prevalent and profitable in the states, a lot of these new models will not find a home.