On Sunday, Tokyo’s Nikkei worried aloud that Toyota’s recall may snowball into Europe. The ball is rolling: Today, the Nikkei reports that Toyota “expects to recall roughly 2.0 million vehicles in Europe to fix defective gas pedals.”
The Nikkei’s source is “a person familiar with the matter .“ Because Toyota is still working out which cars exactly need to go to the shop, “it’s unclear when the recall will be formally announced, the person said.” (Read More…)
Today’s Nikkei [sub] says that the latest Toyota recall “is seen as a major dent in the side of the leading Japanese automaker’s reputation as a builder of reliable automobiles.” (Read More…)
At the end of an excellent comment on the recent 1989 Camaro RS Curbside Classic, commenter carnick noted:
I remember reading an article at the time which interviewed both Roger Smith, and Toyoda-san, the head of Toyota at the time. Each was asked, ‘is your company in business to make cars, or to make money’? Smith answered, ‘of course, we are in business to make money’. Toyoda answered, ‘we are in business to make cars, and by making the best cars in the world, we will make money’. While Toyota has had its problems lately (they caught some GM virus), I think the general path both of those companies have taken over the past 30 years shows which strategy works best.
This is fantastic encapsulation of the different directions GM and Toyota have been heading over the past several decades, but it’s also a warning sign for Toyota. The company that rose to the top of the global auto industry by virtue of a laser-like focus on cars themselves is facing a flood of recalls and perceptions of declining quality… and it’s just come out with a PR website called “Toyota Beyond Cars.” Coincidence?
Collisionrepairmag.com reports that AzkoNobel, a chemicals company from the Netherlands, has teamed up with Toyota to create Sikkens Autoclear LV, a scratch resistant, self healing clearcoat. The product has been approved by Toyota for use on the Lexus LS range as an aftermarket clearcoat to be used at Toyota dealerships and Toyota affiliated collision repair facilities around the world. According to the article, “Sikkens Autoclear LV Exclusive is highly resistant to scratches, and holds up extremely well after repeated washings, but it truly differentiates itself from other clearcoats with its outstanding self-healing characteristics when a vehicle is nonetheless damaged. With extraordinary “re-flow” properties designed into the coating, small scratches virtually disappear in minutes when exposed to a heat source at temperatures ranging from 40-80 degrees celsius–and even exposure to the sun will initiate the healing process.”
Toyota got hammered by another big recall today, with 2.3m vehicles called back for sticking accelerator pedals. According to Toyota’s release, this recall is
separate from the on-going recall of approximately 4.2 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles to reduce the risk of pedal entrapment by incorrect or out of place accessory floor mats. Approximately 1.7 million Toyota Division vehicles are subject to both separate recall actions.
How much more of this can Toyota take? One thing is for certain: ToMo has got to pull its current ad campaign which emphasizes the alleged quality of Toyota products. Cognitive dissonance might work in the short term but once consumers wise up they’ll never trust you again. Just ask GM.
After years of spurning lithium ion batteries in favor of Nickel metal hydride cells, it seems Toyota might changing their mind. The Wall Street Journal reports that Toyota Tsusho Corp, which is 21.8% owned by Toyota Motor Corp., has secured the loans it needed from the Japanese government to buy a stake in a lithium project in Northern Argentina. The article states that “people with knowledge of the matter” (read in to that what you will), values Toyota Tsusho’s investment somewhere between $100 million and $200 million.
Cross a car and a truck, you get an SUV. Cross a SUV with a car and you get a CUV. Cross that CUV with a car and you get a Crossover Sedan, the term used by Toyota marketing mavens for their Camry-based Venza. With this step the evolution comes full circle, as the Venza is really just a good ole station wagon. Not to be outdone, this year Honda released a Crossover Sedan of their own, only they don’t call it a Crossover Sedan. Instead, Honda says their new Accord “blends sporty, low-profile contours with CUV functionality.” Get the picture? Actually, the new Honda should be called the Accord hatchback. So it is that I evaluate these two new Crossover Sedans wrought from the DNA of two of the top selling cars in North America. First up, second place: the Toyota Venza.
Despite what you think of Toyota, it’s a company you should respect. They brought reliability to cars when others couldn’t. They popularised lean manufacturing techniques that others are still trying to copy. And they introduced green technologies at a time when petrol was cheap and still made a success of it. In short, when Toyota put their mind to it, they can make a good success of just about anything… except for the European market. For some reason, Toyota cannot make in-roads in the European sales no matter how hard they try, and the latest set of data suggests that that trend is continuing.
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Toyota’s head start on hybrid technology is easily the most significant advantage any one automaker holds over any other. It’s next closest competitor in hybrid offerings is Honda which is facing serious challenges as its Prius competitor, the Insight, is off to an incredibly weak start. To capitalize on this advantage, Toyota plans to up annual production of its hybrids to one million units by 2011. Despite reports that Toyota is refocusing on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles as a long-term option, Yoshihiko Tabei, chief analyst at Kazaka Securities believes:
For the foreseeable future, the focus of Toyota’s (low-emission car) strategy will be on hybrids, not electric or fuel-cell cars. Except for Honda, Toyota is facing little competition in hybrids and is set to put distance between itself and other automakers
Toyota plans to roughly double its global production of hybrid vehicles to 1 million units in 2011, The Nikkei writes. Toyota alerted parts suppliers that it intends to roll out about 800,000 hybrids domestically in 2010, around 900,000 in 2011 and roughly 1.1 million in 2012. (Read More…)
“Scion is pretty much a North American brand, so that is why it is very natural to think more development, more design work, should be done in North America,” Yoshi Inaba, president of Toyota Motor North America tells Automotive News [sub]. In other words, fans of Scion’s first generation of JDM confections who railed against second-gen bloat are probably out of luck. Sure, model four in the Scion lineup will be the iQ minicar, which is small and weird enough to have been a member of the Scion invasion team, but after that? It’s all bloat and bigger blind spots from here on out. It’s what America wants.
We’re at a difficult phase in the global economy. Economists would have you believe that we’re out of recession and things are starting to look rosy. But just talk to someone like Peter Schiff and he’d have you believe that a second downturn is inevitable. It really is tough to say where the economy will go and it’s showing in the car market. USA Today reports that Toyota are looking at their 4Runner & FJ Cruiser models and wondering whether to build a new generation or not.
Automotive News [sub] reports that supplier giant Denso, which is 23 percent owned by Toyota, will launch a competitor to Ford’s Sync system. The system, named Blue Harmony, will provide music, directions, e-mail, Internet radio, news headlines and other driver distractions through a touchscreen on the center of the instrument panel, according to Denso sources. The system will use Denso apps to bring Pandora internet radio, Facebook, Flickr and other web-based services to the Blue Harmony platform.
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