Why Toyota’s Financial Loss in North America is Your Gain
Toyota’s market share has been increasing rapidly over the last decade. Known by consumers for manufacturing reliable and high quality cars and trucks, Toyota has enjoyed much success in North America. But things are no longer as rosy and Toyota recently announced that its North American operations are no longer profitable. Toyota’s U.S. sales were down 38 percent in the first six months of 2009, slightly higher than the market’s overall decline of 35 percent. So why is this good news to you?
Toyota’s problem is that they don’t really offer any cars that bring the driver any excitement. If you don’t count Toyota Motor’s Scion tC and the Lexus IS convertible, the only Toyota branded two doors are the Camry Solara and the Yaris, and those aren't exactly sports coupes. Sure, they make great cars that are reliable, useful, and safe, but a Toyota Avalon or Camry doesn’t exactly inspire passion. The good news for enthusiasts is that Toyota has finally realized this, and sounds like they are going to do something about it.
Yoshimi Inaba, CEO of Toyota Motor Sales USA, recently mentioned that while the economy obviously had a hand in Toyota’s recent loss, he also blames Toyota’s fleet of unexciting cars. Inaba told The Detroit News, “Toyota is a good car but not exciting, those are the comments we usually or always get.” He later mentioned that Toyota’s future cars will be “more exciting and more nimble.”
Toyota stopped exporting the Supra to the states in 1999 followed by the demise of the MR2 and Celica in 2005. Since then they have lacked a sports car and even a sporty car. The closest thing is the Scion tC, which is essentially a lower cost Celica replacement branded as a Scion. The lack of a Toyota branded sports coupe and Inaba’s comments hint that either the Supra replacement (FT-HS Hybrid Concept) or the rumored Subaru/Toyota joint production rear drive coupe may soon become a reality, and that’s good news for an automotive enthusiast.
