Toyoda-san to bring Toyota back to its core values.

[Azuremen]

Found in the Wall Street Journal here

TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp.'s incoming president, Akio Toyoda, has a sobering message for the giant company founded by his grandfather: It has gotten too fancy for its own good.

On Monday, three top executives who helped lead Toyota the past four years -- including Mitsuo Kino****a, one of the primary architects of the company's global expansion -- announced their retirement. The departures clear the way for Mr. Toyoda's planned makeover of the world's biggest auto maker.

He is expected to focus, most of all, on abandoning kakushin, or "revolutionary change," current president Katsuaki Watanabe's term for changing the way Toyota designed its cars and factories. It spawned technological advances, but led to cars that were often costlier to produce.

The 52-year-old Mr. Toyoda is also working to fix a pricing strategy that put the company at odds with some U.S. dealers, who felt its cars were getting too expensive, according to people familiar with the situation.

There is a lot more to that article than just that, so go take a look.

From what it seems, Toyoda has the right idea for the company again - basic cars that don't have gimmicks and to keep value for price. He has been traveling, asking about what needs to change from the dealer to manufacturing levels, thinking about the current markets, and what gimmicks the company has started using. For example, the new Prius is to have a solar powered system to vent hot air from the car when it is parked, and the painting system has been revised to make assembly shorter, but costs nearly 4 times as much to setup.

I think he could very well get Toyota back to its core of affordable, simple, reliable car. And right now, that is certainly what they need.

 

[Omnis]

Looks like they're trying to be like their friends across the sea. Kind of sad from a Japanese perspective that it took a bunch of Koreans to remind them of how to be profitable.

 

[Bram Turismo]

Toyota getting back to their basics would be awesome, especially a new Celica model would be very nice to see 👍

 

[in.s@ne]

Clearly all we need is a new MR2...

 

[Jay]

I love how Toyota is not happy where the company is going and want to get back to basics when Ford and other companies are using Toyota as a new business model.

Oh and we need another big over engineered turbocharged Supra!

 

[homeforsummer]

I think he could very well get Toyota back to its core of affordable, simple, reliable car. And right now, that is certainly what they need.

It's what everybody needs. And as others have mentioned, a few new simple sporty cars wouldn't go amiss.

 

[Sniffs]

now, don't get so dang hopefull, here. "back to basics" approaches mean they're going to pull the same trick that GM is. Say goodby to Lexus and Scion, performance, luxury, and anything not a 4 door sedan with a 4 cylinder of the sub 2 liter class. I wouldn't be suprised if he pares it down to Toyo's original function, making cloth!

 

[Jay]

Say goodbye to Lexus?.... No way, they will not drop Lexus thats for sure.

 

[Tornado]

Regardless of if this ever brings back any sport Toyotas, I think this is the right move. In quite a few areas of the Toyota range, the cars are simply cheaper Lexus' (I'm looking at you Land Cruiser) rather than more basic transportation. Even the Yaris suffers from being a bit too gimmicky in its design.

 

[Jim Prower]

Scion needs to be drop-kicked as bad as Hummer. I think the xB can be re-used as a Toyota, as Nissan and Kia are selling their funkboxes under their own brands. xD is too close to volume-seller Yaris (which even shares performance upgrades,) and the tC is just not a Celica. Not with that Camry motor...and lame dynamics.

Speaking of which, the Camry, particularly the upmarket models, is quite guilty of being a junior Lexus. As is the Avalon...which, honestly, is becoming the Buick Park Avenue of the Toyota set. And, yes, the Land Cruiser is over $60,000. I think there's cheaper Land Rover models.

Lexus itsself is getting rather gimmicky, too. I mean...a car that parks itsself? AND, in Hybrid form, is more expensive than the JDM model, with a V12, that ferries Japanese government officials? Something off, here?

One frivilous thing I hope to see...

2AZ-GE, 2AR-GE, or 1NZ-GE. Toyota needs a wide-angle twin-cam inline four again.

 

[YSSMAN]

When you struggle to find Corollas on the lot for less than $18K, you know there is a problem with the company. With some spare time I had this afternoon, I decided to go car shopping, but after only two stops (Hyundai/Kia and Honda), I gave up. No one builds a good, cheap, fun-to-drive compact anymore that is available for less than $18K. For that matter, if they did, it has been ruined (I'm looking at you Ford and Mazda).

Getting back to the basics, in whatever way it may be, is going to be a good move as the buying public starts looking for good deals; Be it with a car, the groceries, new clothes, cell phones, or computers. Toyota needs to bring back the old "Value Packages" they used to do on their low-level models, where they throw on the ABS, power windows and locks, and maybe alloy wheels for less than $1000. Do that on a Corolla or a Camry, people will make that choice over the LE that arguably has way too much crap in it to begin with.

What would I want from Toyota?

Bring back something like the Corolla XRS, but do it with the Yaris, and make the only option on the car a slushbox. Keep the power windows, locks standard, include the ABS and the airbags, and thats that.

 

[Sniffs]

prower: the xB allready IS a toyota!. it's a converted JDM bB, and most of the lexies are JDM's. we even got the Chaser with a Lexus label on it (CS)

when a car company pares down, they go all the way to the bottom. I fully expect us to be left with 4 US manufacturers, PERIOD. there's allready rumors floating around that most of Japan is gonna just disappear. Kia will most likely follow, which only leaves the hyper luxury supercars for variety.

in other words, I'm pessimistic about the automotive future.

 

[Tornado]

prower: the xB allready IS a toyota!. it's a converted JDM bB, and most of the lexies are JDM's.

No. The USDM xB is a completely different than the Japanese bB. Unlike with the original xB, which was a badge job, the current xB is a completely bastardized versioon of the concept behind the bB, and is all the more awful because of it.

 

[YSSMAN]

...And that's the strange thing. The predecessor to the xB was a halfway decent effort at minimalist thinking, and the people loved it. They sold nearly double over xA as I recall, not just on looks, but capability as well. Fast forward to the present, when Toyota screams about how they "listened to the people" to make the xB better... Well, you have to wonder who "the people" were. They made it bigger, heavier, less fuel efficient, not nearly as cool looking, and more expensive at the same time. The xD, like the xA before it, remains the "sane" option to the xB... The "sane" option no one seems to care about.

Hell, everyone knows how much I hate "modern" Toyota, but they did a pretty good job with the xD (the Venza as well, but thats another thread). Strip the cars down, strap a low price tag on it, and sales will increase dramatically. Catch Ford and GM off guard, and they can totally dominate the American market in less than five years.

 

[a6m5]

Koichi Shimokawa, a professor of business administration at Tokai Gakuin University in Nagoya, says Toyota was so focused on becoming the world's largest auto maker that it failed to cut production quickly enough last year as economic crisis struck the U.S., its largest market.

That's what I was afraid of. A while back, I declared on this site that Toyota is not dumb enough to do this. Oops.

 

[Azuremen]

Hell, everyone knows how much I hate "modern" Toyota, but they did a pretty good job with the xD (the Venza as well, but thats another thread). Strip the cars down, strap a low price tag on it, and sales will increase dramatically. Catch Ford and GM off guard, and they can totally dominate the American market in less than five years.

The xD was nice. What the Corolla should still be, in a sense. Cheap-ish, fun, handy for moving things around and people. The new xB is a massive failure of a car.

Pricing is just going crazy anyhow. The 5 door Mazda3 starts higher than the Mazda6 sedan. Okay?

 

[YSSMAN]

I was shopping around a bit this afternoon, and its becoming a struggle to find anything halfway decent for less than $18K these days. The fact that Hyundai has the stones to charge $17,900 to start on the i30 (Elantra Touring)... Its just madness. Absolute madness.

The Fiesta needs to get here, nao, so Toyota has a reason to build a better Yaris.

 

[Tornado]

I've got Seoul, and I'm Superbad.

 

[Philly]

Toyota undercutting Hyundai? That's a bold move. And definitely against the pretty consistent trend of offering a lot more than the year before for only a little more price. There certainly is a bit of a void at the bottom end of the market though, and I'm sure Toyota can capitalize on that. Especially if the stuff they put out is better than the Versa and whatever that other new car that sells for less than $10k, both cars I don't see very much of. GM probably could have probably put Saturn to very good use in this segment if they hadn't started toying with it a few years ago.

And what's this talk of Toyota being able to dominate the market in less than 5 years? As far as I'm concerned, they either already dominate it now or are set to very soon. In Seattle, it seems every other car you see is a new Toyota. Even in Michigan a lot of the new cars you see are imports, and it really is sad (even for someone like me who looks very critically at domestics). Look at cars more than 5 years old here, and almost everything is a domestic. The new stuff? The Americans may have even lost their majority. And it's scary when you think that the domestics can't even sell their cars in their home state.

 

[YSSMAN]

When I say dominate, I mean having Toyota rise to market share levels of 30% or so. As long as GM and Ford are around, the Mid-West is going to be a relative safe-haven for the sale of their vehicles. The West Coast is already a lost cause, so I'm not even worried about that.

In general, I think, if Toyota finds a way to undercut everyone and change the game once again... Especially with the way the market is now... It will severely alter the automotive landscape as we know it.

 

[Sniffs]

*strip down*...yeah, and it's guarenteed some moron will buy it, and get decapitated in a crash because it wasstripped down.

I've heard the same argument for US cars as well, just to bring the price out of the stratosphere. hate to tell you, but some of us find we can't even afford 15-20 year old pieces of junk because they're selling for 5 grand CASH. sorry, but if you want more for your money, the money has to be worth more first

 

[YSSMAN]

Thats the problem all of the automakers are having right now; Used vehicles are a better perceived value than brand-new ones. Clever marketing for Hyundai has managed to allow them to dodge that bullet, particularly with the Assurance Plan and their massive warranty plans. But, considering that most automakers don't offer anything like that, their sales are going to suffer.

A lot of dealers up here are calling up customers from a year or so ago, offering to buy their "new-ish" vehicles to re-sell as used cars to not only A) Make mad money, and B) Push out brand-new cars to loyal customers. That, and you can go down to the local Chrysler dealer and get 50% off on most of their 2009 models.

Still, make a Yaris or Corolla seem like a better deal than a new-ish used car, you're going to sell a lot more of them.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

hate to tell you, but some of us find we can't even afford 15-20 year old pieces of junk because they're selling for 5 grand CASH. sorry, but if you want more for your money, the money has to be worth more first

If supply is low, then prices are going to be high.

 

[Tornado]

That, and you can go down to the local Chrysler dealer and get 50% off on most of their 2009 models.

2009 Ram for $15,000!

 

[YSSMAN]

Give or take, they're advertising for brand-new Durangos and Rams for $12-15K on television, Sebrings for less than that under most circumstances. If I didn't hate Chrysler products so much, I'd probably be telling my Mom to replace the Grand Prix with one of them. Its an absolute steal, and with the unlimited warranty... Wow.

Until you realize you're actually driving an Avenger. Then reality sinks in.

 

[Azuremen]

*strip down*...yeah, and it's guarenteed some moron will buy it, and get decapitated in a crash because it wasstripped down.

I've heard the same argument for US cars as well, just to bring the price out of the stratosphere. hate to tell you, but some of us find we can't even afford 15-20 year old pieces of junk because they're selling for 5 grand CASH. sorry, but if you want more for your money, the money has to be worth more first

Prices would adjust accordingly.

And stripped down means to having a base model with manual bits instead of power everything and gimmicks like auto head lights and such. Not removing the crumple zone from the vehicle.

I can get a 94 LS400 for under 5 grand cash. I think you need to go shopping in other markets, really.

 

[Jim Prower]

Still, The government (especially now, with the economic recovery package,) is pumping out more and more money, making what's out there already worth less and less. Simple economics: when a bank or government institution creates money, Inflation increases.

Thus, what needs to change is not prices, but the amount being paid for work. It's going to get difficult to get prices down to a "reasonable" number. The other option is the government stop spending and mints stop printing. The value of what's in your pocket will skyrocket. And be more difficult to get.

Remember, there was a time when you could get a midsize car, even a fullsize car, well equipped, fully loaded, even, for less than $10,000.

Right now, we're going through an inflationary period, combined with a poor economy. It's a lose-lose situation. That being said, I'd actually invest in the stock market, now. Your investment will have a wonderful return when things turn rosy again.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

It's just ridiculous to pay $5000 for a piece of junk. Hell somebody could buy a decent car fairly close-by for $2000 and charge $2000 for delivery, and that would still be a better value. Anybody want to start a new business?

I think you need to go shopping in other markets, really.

I think you need to go shopping in other markets, really.

Double QFT

 

[Sniffs]

Az: that IS the low end market, here. I've asked twice for a couple suggestions in my price slot. one of my crew said he'd give me a hand...but would only go to 2000 dollars. now that I've got the sales tax money due to other people paying me back...no dice.

we went over an offer on a 94 Blazer for 2 grand...which is as low as even a private seller here will go, and the lowest I've seen since my fifth car. there's just no availability in a car starved area where a beat up old cav or escort will sell for 3-4000 with 175k on it, and a literall rotted out piece of junk that's only worth it's remaining metal weight goes for 1500. so don't tell me to go hunting elsewhere where it will cost 3 or 4 grand just to go get a clunker!

oh, and modern drivers wouldn't know what the heck to DO with "everything manual"...which, as I said earler, are selling at barrett-Jackson atm.

Prower: there's no way in hell they'll stop, and we all know it. thanks to the last twenty years and the Lawyer-happy public, it is now seen as common sense to throw money at a problem. cause it shuts the Lawyers up! stopping the presses makes sense, but that would throw even MORE people outa work. things tend to snowball.

my first car was purchased for me for a measly $125 (beat THAT!!) so I could play Chauffeur to my mother. out of my 13 vehicles, I have paid with my OWN money for only 3 of em! apparently, Automakers never heard of the "poverty line". I've made a max over my working life of 9000 a year and, that year, 4500 of that went straight into my gas tank. another grand went into car parts, insurance, etc. still more went into bills. I had so much to write off that the refund and pay in literally cancelled themselves. I might have made 1500 dollars for myself for sitting in my vehicle 15-16 hours a day! and most of what was left kept me fed.

right now, I'm more interested in keeping my bills paid to fix my credit, and trying to keep solicitors off my butt for 500 dollar stupid-twenty-something bills that they want cash RIGHT NOW for.

what i own is 3 peices of automotive junk and some video games. even the comp I'm using is not mine personally. if I didn't have family that actually gave a, I'd be living out on the street as one of those people you pity.

I'm allready used to living on peanuts, how many of the rest of you could say that if the fecal matter hits the air circulation device? costs need to come back down, but either throwing money at it or deleting the money won't work. it makes things worse.

now look, you made me go off on a money rant! my apologies, but something needed said.