Are More Exciting Toyotas in the Pipeline?

Hope the IS-F stays around. That car is an amazing drive.

Just when Honda/Acura axe all their performance offerings Toyota all of a sudden want to add some excitement. Aint' that a b*tch.

"Ha ha ha ha. A Camry with neon-green paint.

Why does Toyota remind me of GM years ago? #1 in the world based on rep, but that is it. Nothing exciting (unlike the Corvette GM has always had)."

I absolutely agree. I find it funny when people picture GM as the dinosaur, that has never done anything right and will never do anything right, and Toyota as the model business that can do no wrong. Both companies are on the exact same path, just a couple decades apart. Toyota now is where GM was at in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, living on reputation alone, lots of brand overlap, little in the way of excitement, aiming for quantity over all else, and determined to cover every market segment. Quality has slipped, and they just seem like the passionless, risk averse corporate giant.

I am glad to hear that they do recognize the lack of excitement in their lineup. Whether or not they actually take those words to heart and act on them will determine whether they turn around quickly or take decades to do it, like GM.

The difference with Toyota though is they have been working to reverse their direction a few years after this became obvious, not 2 to 3 decades.

ya quality slip they already stopped building US plants and cutting new US workers.
That curbs the quality slip... so they pretty much fixed that problem.

Toyota did also lay off tons of Japs in Toyota City that now Toyota City has Japan's #1 unemployment rate. So it's not just cutting inexperienced US workers only.

I think VW took the crown this year in terms of overall sales worldwide.

Toyota is in need of more exciting cars. Of their current lineup in the US, only the IS-F comes to mind when I think of excitement. The FJ cruiser comes close in an off roading sense, but then again I'd rather have a Jeep Wrangler or Land Rover for treking through the wilderness.

Here's what I suggest:

Scion: Make a new version of the TC & XB with the option of a TRD performance model.

Toyota: Bring back the Celica, MR2 Spyder & Supra.

Lexus: Keep the IS-F but improve on handling and driving characteristics. Come out with a GS-F that's capable of competing against the M5, CTS-V, Audi RS6 etc. And finally, release the LF-A in the US.

Whatever Toyota comes up with. It has some very serious contenders. Even Hyundai has the Genesis Coupe. I'm sure Acura is working on a new RSX replacement. And probably waiting around for Toyota to release something first to make sure they beat it. That's what they did with the RSX. Waited till the 7th Generation Celica to be introduced in 2000 then they released their RSX in 2002.

"Are More Exciting Toyotas in the Pipeline?"

No.

Supra, MR2, Starlet, Sera, Celica GT-Four, 2000GT, they are all exciting, but DEAD.

Oops, I forgot about the IS-F, and the LF-A for that matter. I still like my idea of the Corolla in bright pink or an xb in slushie-orange.

"The difference with Toyota though is they have been working to reverse their direction a few years after this became obvious, not 2 to 3 decades."

Toyota hasnt been working to fix anything. As recently as last year they were on top of the world. Only now are they admitting they have too much capacity and too much product overlap. It takes years to turn around a company of that size. The notion that Detroit didnt try to change for 20-30 years is totally inaccurate. They first started studying and adopting Japanese production methods in the 80s. They could not turn around fast enough because of recessions, gas price surges, fear of strikes, debts and the fact that their primary competitors had much lower cost structures that allowed them field better cars for less money.

All I can say is, "about time." Toyota has turned itself into a car appliance company, opening the door to one of their cars is as thrilling as opening the door to my fridge or washer/dryer.
They really are turning into GM when their most powerful vehicle is a truck, minus the Vette.

Is going to take time for Toyota to revamp the whole line of cars. There are plenty of ideas they can start doing like limited edition "skunk works TRD or TOMS" cars. Just to get your heart pumping.

"They first started studying and adopting Japanese production methods in the 80s. They could not turn around fast enough because of recessions, gas price surges, fear of strikes, debts and the fact that their primary competitors had much lower cost structures that allowed them field better cars for less money."

Isn't that about 30 years ago? Here are some interesting facts about GM.

http://channels.isp.netscape.com/pf/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-1310&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20090709%2F1251449365.htm&sc=1310

Exciting Toyota... wow that hasn't been true in over a decade.

Remember the original SC? Sexy darned car. Now the SC is a bland land yacht with no visual style and nothing even coming close to sporty.

The last gen Supra was vavavoom - sorta a SC on steroids. Long gone.

The fixed roof MR2 is a near perfect car. To this day it's still stylish and fast (like the dearly departed Mazda RX-7).

I think it's funny when people say stuff like 'bring back the MR2, the Supra" etc.

The reason they went away is because people stopped buying them...

Toyota's current vehicles sell well, given the economic circumstances. What they need to do is amp up those offerings, instead of ambien them up with every re-design...

(p.s a 4 door FJ Cruiser with the blind spot removed would be nice)

"I think it's funny when people say stuff like 'bring back the MR2, the Supra" etc.

The reason they went away is because people stopped buying them..."

I agree, but rather than nix all their sports models they should have left one to compete at the $20k range.

Hopefully the upcoming toyobaru will fix that.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/07/08/second-that-emotion-toyobaru-re-confirmed-for-tokyo-motor-show/

"but I can see standing on the sidelines that there is not enough excitement in our vehicles."
...
DUH!
Unborn fetuses can see that there isn't enough excitement in Toyotas.

I have a feeling that car-guy Toyoda might actually make some good things happen though. We'll see. I think it's always a good sign when a car company is led by an enthusiast.

P.S. - As lame as Toyota is, they have the most attractive subcompact at this point, as I see it. I can really appreciate the fact that they actually bothered to make a 3-door Yaris. That's more than Honda or Nissan can say about their offerings.

desmo, the current gen SC moved less than 2000 units in 08. I think, could be wrong, this is one market Toyota surrendered to BMW, Audi, MB and even Infiniti. There's room for an SC-like luxury coupe and if Lexus goes the route of the original they could have a classy car with amazing longevity and long term sales...