Japan is freaking out a little right now, much like the rest of the world. The country has a new prime minister, a new sense of its place in the world after a “lost decade” turned into “lost decades.” Does that apply to Toyota? I’m not so sure. Toyota looks like it’s in great shape.
Today was the first day of the Japan Mobility Show, and we’re already starting to see the concepts roll out on the pages of The Autopian. Toyota has a bunch of concepts to look at, though we’ve seen some of them before. Mostly, Toyota has a new energy
Could the same be said of Honda? The company is in a slightly different situation, and it seems to be looking inward at what it can accomplish in Japan during this show. Japan itself is in an interesting situation relative to the rest of the globe. President Trump is in Tokyo and asking Asian nations to contribute more to the American economy and global stability.
The reaction from Japan? Enthusiastic but measured. While companies like Toyota are willing to invest, a lot of the big numbers being thrown around may not exactly happen as the President has expressed. And a deal to stop Russian LNG? That might be an energy bridge too far.
Toyota’s New Century
Toyota took a lot of crap in the early part of this decade for, among other things, being “too slow” on electric cars. Instead, Toyota was careful and cautious, and invested heavily in hybrids as a bridge technology. That was clearly the right move.
There’s a column from Automotive News that drives this point home today:
Amid challenges and criticisms, the one thing that Toyota repeatedly does right is set a course and stick to it. In the U.S., that means moving forward with electric vehicles while continuing to expand hybrids and plug-in hybrid availability across the market and throughout its lineup.
Toyota’s $14 billion battery complex in North Carolina is beginning to produce batteries for its electrified vehicles in North America. Meanwhile, it still plans to introduce new three-row EVs next year that will be built in Kentucky, as well as bring in other new EVs, including the C-HR.
Why? Because it won’t be pushing those EVs on its dealers and customers, but allowing both to pull the vehicles as real market demand for them grows naturally — just as demand has grown for hybrids. Toyota’s determination to follow the multipath powertrain strategy it adopted nearly a decade ago has allowed it to capture share from competitors, especially those who now find themselves flat-footed because they opted to not offer hybrids.
Preach!
Toyota’s eclectic mix of concepts at the Japan Mobility Concept demonstrates a lot of swagger, including the crazy Century coupe:
Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda gave a speech at the launch of the vehicle, and he didn’t sound like someone content to rest on his own laurels (or Levins, I guess). Referencing Kiichiro Toyoda and Toyota’s first chief engineer, Kenya Nakamura, Toyoda calls on his country and company to jump into action:
The “Japan as No.1” era is behind us, and we are now in what has come to be known as “the lost 30 years.”
Japan as a nation seems to have lost some of its energy and dynamism, along with our presence in the world.
If Kiichiro and Nakamura could see Japan today, what would they say?
I suspect they wouldn’t say anything, and instead leap straight into action.
When Nakamura saw the postwar media headline “Starting from Zero,” he said, “It’s not zero. It’s true that our facilities were destroyed, and we had no materials or money. But we had the strengths and skills that Japan had built up. That’s why we were able to rebuild.”
He said that in anger.
Toyota is in a great position globally, with a lot of production in the United States, and products people want. While it was slow to develop EVs, it’s not like Toyota can’t build a great EV.
They’re smart, so if you’re a competitor, watch out.
Honda Isn’t In Bad Shape, Either, Though It Feels A Bit More Insular
Sam has a full write-up on what Japan is doing at the big show, and it feels like Japan is sort of the focus. Not like I blame Honda. The company is also well-situated when it comes to hybrids and other products in the United States, although it has some issues and exposure when it comes to production in Mexico and to the new Nexperia chip shortage, as Nikkei Asia writes:
Honda also said it began adjusting output in the U.S. and Canada on Monday due to a shortage of Nexperia chips. The company did not disclose details, such as the scale of the cuts or how long it expects them to last. A prolonged slowdown in North America, its key manufacturing base, could weigh on the company’s earnings for the fiscal year ending March 2026.
The Celaya auto plant in central Mexico, which has suspended operations, has an annual capacity of around 200,000 cars and makes the HR-V sport utility vehicle. Last year, the plant turned out more than 190,000 vehicles, far exceeding the 40,000 sold in Mexico, making it a major export hub for the U.S. market.
North America is Honda’s important market. In 2024, the company sold about 1.61 million vehicles across the region, including the U.S. and Mexico, making up about 40% of its global sales.
It would be bold of Honda to bring some of the cars it showed in Japan to the United States, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Toyota: Uh, No, We Are Not Giving You $10 Billion Mr. President
If you ask for $100, no one is going to give you $1 billion. But if you ask for $10 billion, well, a cold $1 billion doesn’t seem like such a stretch. This appears to be the strategy from President Trump, who keeps stating that different countries will invest billions of dollars, only to find out that the promises are really for loans and not cash.
This happened earlier this week with South Korea, which didn’t want to destabilize its own currency in the process of making investments. That’s probably less of a risk with the Japanese yen, but companies like Toyota are smart and don’t want to over-invest in one market.
Per Reuters:
Speaking during his visit to Japan on Tuesday evening, Trump said the automaker would be looking to invest around $10 billion in the United States.
However, Toyota executive Hiroyuki Ueda said no such explicit promise was made about an investment of that size, adding that Toyota would continue to invest and create jobs in America.
Ueda was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo.
Look, let’s just make it $8 billion between friends and call it a day, of which $300 million is going to be earmarked for The Autopian to build a test track. Thank you, Toyota!
Japan Probably Won’t Be Shutting Out Russian LNG
Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi [Ed Note: She’s a car enthusiast! -DT] stepped into the job at a difficult time between her country and the United States. The big question going into this week has been: Could she appeal to President Trump?
It seemed to go well, according to The Japan Times:
“It was a near-perfect meeting,” LDP Policy Research Council Chairman Takayuki Kobayashi said after the summit Tuesday. “We were able to demonstrate to the world the strength of the Japan-U.S. relationship and the close rapport between our leaders.”
Even the head of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), which has often been critical of the LDP, welcomed Takaichi’s performance.
“It is most significant that, despite it being their first meeting, they were able to start off on a harmonious note through their shared friendship with the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe,” CDP leader Yoshihiko Noda said Tuesday, adding that the key outcome of the summit was “the establishment of a personal relationship of trust.”
Experts agree, with many describing the meeting as an “overwhelming success,” especially considering the tumult and uncertainty in bilateral relations over the past year.
I credit all the F-150s that Japan is going to buy.
Not everything was perfect, and President Trump’s request to freeze out Russian LNG as punishment for their illegal and cruel occupation of Ukraine doesn’t seem to have gone over, according to Nikkei Asia:
The U.S. is seeking cooperation from Group of Seven nations to impose an embargo on energy imports from Russia in order to ratchet up pressure on the country. Trump reportedly reiterated this request to Takaichi during their working lunch at the summit.
Russia accounts for nearly 9% of Japan’s LNG imports. A ban on Russian imports would have repercussions for the economy, leading Takaichi to determine that an embargo would not be possible.
You can’t win ’em all.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
All of the outtakes from Bruce Springsteen’s sessions for Nebraska are out and, honestly, incredible. I’m not Springsteen-pilled, although Nebraska is one of my all-time favorite albums. The raw and stripped down version of “Pink Cadillac” above, and “Born in the USA” are both eye-opening.
The Big Question
What could Toyota be doing even better?
Photo: Toyota
“Toyota’s New Century” above the picture of the bus/van thing confused me greatly until I read on.
Give the LandCruiser and GX550 a split tailgate and I’m one happy camper!
Preach.
What could Toyota be doing better? How about making better cars? Getting in and driving almost any Toyota is not a pleasant experience. They need to improve their materials quality, ride & handling, NVH, seat comfort, and in some cases, assembly quality. I can’t believe people pay MSRP or above, and possibly wait months for delivery, for cars that don’t do anything better than most competitors, and in some metrics are much worse.
“Meanwhile, it still plans to introduce new three-row EVs next year that will be built in Kentucky”
Yeah just what America needs on the precipice of a recession, another 70k luxo barge with a battery that weighs as much as a Corolla.
I get why they’re doing this but I miss the age when Toyota was truly economy-minded in the US.
But maybe, as The Boss said, their love is bigger than a Honda, it’s bigger than a Subaru…
Hahahaha, excellent pull!
Toyota needs to offer more of their color palate across the models. Give me that green that the Highlander/Sienna get on a Taco please. Also, I need them to post more job openings for engineers, I’d love to work for them
You might have more luck working for them as a LEAN advocate. {runs_away.gif}
What excuse is there for months/year+ long wait for a Sienna? As far as I can tell, it is just artificial scarcity to keep cars moving at over MSRP.
I think for the next Corolla in the US, it would be nice to see them split the model. Go a half size up, and a half size down. The Civic is slightly bigger, better looking, and premium. Make the Corolla go a half size class up to compete with that, then bring back the Yaris, but slot it sizewise between the old Yaris and the current Corolla.
This is a great story idea.
Toyota has a huge amount of room to improve on lobbying against fuel economy standards and such. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/22/climate/toyota-hybrid-epa-pollution.html, https://www.citizen.org/news/report-exposes-toyotas-effort-to-fund-climate-deniers/, https://electrek.co/2024/05/14/toyota-once-again-ranked-as-worst-automaker-on-climate-lobbying-globally/, etc
Not too surprising, considering that their trucks are maybe the only category of vehicle that look like they have not made fuel economy improvements in the past 20 years or so, ie https://www.fuelly.com/car/toyota/tacoma
It would be nice if they would put more of their effort into improving their vehicles, instead of lobbying for easier standards.
Since the mid-1990s, Toyota’s strength has been in their conservatism. Most buyers are average and want a well-built but average car. Almost everything in the Toyota lineup crushes the market in “average but good”.
From a business standpoint I think Toyota is crushing it, but I do wish they would make it possible to actually order a car. It would not help them sell more, but they would have gotten me as a customer.
Shopping for a new Tacoma I wanted a TRD-Offroad, in a color, with a manual transmission and few other boxes checked. When I went to a few local toyota dealers they showed me the next one that would be made to fit my spec that wasn’t already spoken for and it was over 1-yr out with basically no hope of getting something sooner and I am pretty sure that was for a black truck and they couldn’t guarantee the timeline if I insisted on a different color.
They told me Siennas are even worse, they recommend families order their Sienna when they have their first kid so the vehicle will be ready once the 2nd kid shows up, that is anecdotal but leads to me to believe that Toyota has always kept production lower than it should be, to ensure sales.
Honda is that way too about ordering. It was a bit of a pain trying to find the spec Pilot my wife wanted. Honda doesn’t even offer crazy options; we just wanted a particular trim and color.
That is strange, what part of the country are you in? Did a quick search in the Boston area, was able to find Siennas in stock, a large variety of colors and trims. Same with the harder (at least when I was interested in them earlier this year) Land Cruiser, plenty now available. When I was looking at the LC, I looked at Lexus for TX and GX models, the saleswoman was telling the same story you heard, you only get what we have and it is limited. She was trying to sell what was on the lot so hard vs even trying to get what we wanted at the time (willing to wait since it had just come out).
Toyota is obviously a very smartly-run company, and has been for many decades. They make very few mistakes. I respect them and their products greatly, even if very, very few of their products have any appeal to me as things I want to own.
Things they could do better? Figure out how to make cars drive properly (hire some Brits and Germans to do the suspension tuning for God’s sake), figure out how to make decent seats (hire the French or Swedes), and stop letting their stylists/designers do so many drugs (probably a lost cause today).
Not to turn this into a Springsteen discussion (“Boss” is a Mustang, so it’s cool, right?), but I really appreciate your inclusion of this particular song, and the accompanying reference to “Born in the USA,” because it turns out my antipathy toward this guy WASN’T the fault of the ridiculous production of the two radio versions of those songs.
Their styling is hit or miss. They’ve come a long way from boring but have overdone it on some vehicles like the 4Runner.
This is a very good point.
FTFY.
Toyota could turn into a juggernaut if they wanted, but instead continues to simply want to build its empire with a longer-term plan than worrying about the 4-year cycles of regional politics in a noisy corner of the planet.
It’s refreshing to thing that Elon has no control over Toyota’s vast resources.
In a hypothetical situation where a US President decided to ban all imports, I fell like many large car manufacturers would actually be somewhat relived. Sure, they’d lose a big chunk of their business, but they’d also not have to worry about building cars specifically for a very, shall we say, demanding customer base.
Some brands, like Toyota, could easily just pare back their US lineup for 4 years, and then come back when the winds have changed.
Toyota could have followed the lead of tesla and expanded the Hydrogen fueling stations out of California and more in california, this cost could have been difficult at first, but make it simple so the competition has to buy from you on not to well regulated pricing and if the cars and usefulness is sound, then it should will be a long term positive. The fact that it failed in even the mostly left wing state California kind of tells me the Hyrdogen fuel cell which has been touted as the next big thing since the 90’s. But I do still wonder if it was not infrastructure that was the problem.
Considering the fuel cell system uses electric motors for actual forward motion, it might have been nice to have an alternative electricity generator for the Mirai. can they not put a battery in the place that the Hydrogen system fits? Or maybe make a Mirai Crossover with space to fit more battery or Erev setup?
Not that it matters really, I am not the normal Toyota customer I suppose. I do like some of the stuff they have, but I would want a new/simple but rugged FJ with a super low gear manual trans and an NA 6 cylinder minimally. I definitely don’t need or want a 300HP high strung turbo 4, I am fine with offering the turbo 6 from the Tundra, as long as the quality issues are sorted.
Honestly though, I think that is the one place that Toyota could do better. offering more niche drivetrains. I know it makes sense to someone to sell everything with one engine basically, but not to me.
Back when batteries were prohibitively expensive, hydrogen seemed like the way to go. But at this point in time there is really no reason for hydrogen.
Toyota could have better financing rates for their damn trucks.
The BoC just dropped their rate to 2.25%, why the HELL are your Toyota-backed interest rates still like 8%?
Because, if you want it, you’ll pay it. Just like waiting months for delivery of a PHEV RAV4 if that’s what you want.
Else you can always go back to your own bank.
No one is buying Tundras, though. I would if they’d cut me a financing deal, but they’re not. So I won’t.
If you need a financing deal, Nissan and Ram are just down the road.
Toyota has no need to put cash on the hood of their products – Just as it’s always been.
Except they ARE putting cash on the hood these days, cause they’re not moving.
Which used to work when half tons were 40-50k. Now in the age of 60-80k, the financing matters more than 5-10k off the price.
Starting down the discount road isn’t a path to success. Since Toyota is doing well as a whole and doesn’t have excess capacity in general, they are better off waiting for the market to come to them or adjusting their product a bit to be more attractive. The dealers can do their own discounting to match their inventory to demand but Toyota corporate doesn’t need to support it in any way.
Because they can. You only need to subsidize rates when you need incentives to move the metal. When has the ever been an issue with Toyota trucks? Cash on the hood is a one-time hit, interest rate incentives are over time, so I can see doing one instead of the other depending on circumstances.
My credit union is offering 4% currently for top-tier borrowers. If you don’t have the credit score to qualify, you probably shouldn’t be shopping new in that price range anyway, IMHO.
Credit score isn’t the issue. Historically the cheapest rates were at the dealer, now I have to add a 2nd step to this nonsense.
Your first step in buying a car should always be getting pre-approved at YOUR financial institution. Dealerships are not your friend in this, they can and will mark up the rate as much as they feel they can get away with. Making them beat your rate can work out in your favor – though for God’s sake don’t tell them what it is.
The lowest rates being at the dealer is only really true for undesirable vehicles where they need to do what they can to get people to buy the things at all. That has rarely to never been anything with a Toyota badge on it. And for sure Toyota dealers can be some of the shadiest out there, especially here in the Southeast. They know what they’ve got.
I’d rather not take the hard check on my credit twice.
I work my math out ahead of time, and if I can’t real a deal, then I don’t buy. I’ve walked out of many dealerships.
But I’m also in Canada. I’m assuming you’re talking the states cause there’s no real “southeast” in Canada. And, well, the readership here is mostly Americans as well, lol.
All the checks for given type of credit in a fairly short span of time are only counted once. There is no penalty for shopping around for rates.
Canada may be different. No idea, different country obviously.
This is just reminding me how much I hate vehicle shopping.
Meh, it’s just a game to be played. I found it a lot of fun as a general rule (with occasional exceptions). The most important thing is to remember that unless you are an idiot or deeply unfortunate, you never NEED to buy a car, but the dealer NEEDS to sell them to eat. Being willing to get up and walk out gives you all the power.
But, but, but, I was told many times on this very site (granted, in many cases by a writer who is no longer here) that Toyota was making a giant mistake not prioritizing EVs over everything else and was going to be left behind.
I think the fact that the first really viable and accepted Hybrid was the Toyota Prius indicated more along the lines that Toyota could, but decided it should not go all in on drinking the last president’s cool-aid. I will admit, they missed out on the free lunch handouts from ICE mfr’s given to the like s of Musk to pad his pockets. Which is sad isnce they really could have dredged up the Scion brand name and easily converted the existing Prius’s at the time to have a battery up front in place of the motor and gotten in on the ground floor, maybe paid themselves in a round about way the Emission credits they likely sent Musks way for things like the V8 Tundra and what not.
I think their biggest fumble was not making the Tundra the first PHEV half ton on the market.
They’ll sell Tacos by the boatload even if the truck kicked you in the nuts every time you started it, but the Tundra needs a feature to help it gain market share.
The new RAV 4 is gonna absolutely dominate it’s segment.
Not focusing on EVs is a long term issue that may appear 10 years from now. I think everyone agreed that their current strategy is great for the next 5 or so years.
No this is not the case at all. When EV fever started, there were 3 years minimum where Toyota took no active action and essentially EVERY major automotive news outlet bashed Toyota for being “behind on the times”. The commentariat often followed suit. Its something that V10omous and I were pretty vocal about Toyota being right. And every year for the past 3, they’ve been proven more and more correct in their approach. And 10 years from now, their careful planning is likely to have them continue down the most viable path.
To be fair, A LOT has changed since then.
Yes, the hype is finally getting towards something far more realistic.
Life comes at you fast!
Toyota could do better from the dealership perspective, having markups in this economy is insane, if they could focus on product availability, they could dominate the market very easily and eat a big portion from Ford and GM (Not the truck divisions but the other stuff).
People are paying markups for Toyotas? In almost-2026?
Yes. Still a thing for in-demand Toyotas.
And, no, many of those still aren’t “in-stock” either – so you’re waiting, as well.
Yup. Here in the DC area people are literally buying Highlanders and Siennas for over MSRP while they’re still in transit, and the only ones dealerships have in stock are Platinum models that cost $60,000+.
We’re going to need to buy a hauler in the next year or two, and my wife will only consider cars that are hybrid and Japanese.
She’s not budging either, I’ve tried. Her family has always owned nothing but Japanese cars and none of them have ever had problems, which is her biggest priority because she doesn’t care about cars and hates having to deal with them. Anyway I am very much not looking forward to dropping $65,000 on a Grand Highlander or Sienna and am really hoping Honda gets the hybrid Pilot to market before we’re shopping, because most DMV Hondas have money on their hoods right now.
Get a certified pre-owned in very good shape. You’ll cut at least 1/3 off that cost.
She’s never had a brand new car in her life and wants this to be her first. Happy wife, happy life, etc. I’ve got to win my battles in the margins.
I hope she gets that dark blue GH. A neighbor picked one up and I do like the styling. It stands out, looks new, but isn’t in your face about it. Actually, I hope she gets a Sienna. I don’t know what colors they come in or what the new ones even look like but having grown up in and learned to drive in a Sienna, it’s cooler than a Grand Highlander.
But I’m of the beige wagon camp and practicality, in my eyes, is cool.
Granted, I likely have the highest per capita Grand Highlanders local to me on this site, but they are bland and boring styling wise to me. Plus, no cool colors. It’s one of the reasons my wife wanted that robins egg blue on her Pilot Trailsport
She wouldn’t be happy with a used practical vehicle and have money left over for a “fun” car, maybe even for retirement, or the kids’ college fund in addition to that?
You could get a Corvette C6 for around $20k right now. That’s the difference between a certified pre-owned and brand new “boring” car.
Reminds me of a 30-something friend of mine who had a V8-swapped 240SX, a project he had since he was 16. It ran well until it needed less than $1,000 of some minor repairs after a decade of use, which he never had time to perform while working two jobs as the car sat for an entire year. She wanted a NEW CUV, and it had to be NEW. She wouldn’t accept a 2-year-old used one still under warrantee with less than 40,000 miles on it. She wanted the NEW body style. So he went into debt for it. Big debt.
She decided she didn’t want the NEW CUV exposed to the elements. She wanted to park it in the garage. So she made him get rid of the project car, since the HOA wouldn’t let it sit outside of the garage non-running. He had to find a buyer for well less than the car was worth, because she wanted it gone NOW.
He had a used Nissan sedan that he used as a daily while the project car sat(the project car used to be a daily), then it went out. Another NEW CUV sits in its place in the driveway, because she demanded it, because according to him her thought was “what will the neighbors think?” if he brought over another “crappy” 7-10 year old used sedan to get around in?
He’s now almost 6-figures in debt for vehicles he didn’t even want. He has to work even more hours to pay both car notes. And these cars aren’t even “fun” vehicles, they’re money pits that conform to what everyone else has, in order to look “practical” to the neighbors. The savings just by getting a used “boring” car instead of a new one, could have bought multiple used “fun” cars, like Corvettes or Vipers, in addition to having that certified pre-owned CUV.
Now he’s miserable in terms of his car-life AND money. These car payments plus interest are going to consume nearly a decade of his life’s “disposable” income, for no real tangible benefit over having just gotten a used CUV in the first place.
Were I him, I’d have put my foot down: used CUV, paid for cash, it’s used so it can be parked outside, no car loan, keep the project car until it is fixed for a few hundred bucks and 10-20 hours work. You still have your “fun” car, and you’re much better off financially at the same time! It just makes sense.
And if you don’t even have a “fun” car? GET ONE! Used Chargers and Challengers both depreciate fairly quickly and good ones aren’t that expensive, either.
I don’t see how Nsane’s wife wanting a new car that they can afford reminds you of your friend who seems to have made bad financial decisions in the context of a terrible bad.
Not to mention, Nsane is talking about a Toyota minivan not whatever your CUV friend managed to go 6-figures into debt for.
Update: I just checked local listings and I misspoke. It’s not nearly as dire as I thought, but you’re definitely not getting any discounts.
Shop out of state. If you can wait until spring 2026, AWD fever will be abating in the Northeast. Getting out of DC to a smaller market and saving $5k by taking a 6 hour drive or 2.5 hour flight (including airport security theater) is definitely worth the extra DMV hassle in my book.
Only if they’re dumb. Plenty of Toyota dealers out there without markups.
This was my understanding and experience too.
I helped my parents buy a GH hybrid about a year ago and they paid MSRP, I could not imagine the situation being worse now.
Probably a DC area thing. Get outside that market/dealer conglomerate and it should be cheaper.
Believe it or not, yes.
I don’t know if it’s just my region, but the inventory for the dealers around here is basically a lie. Half their inventory is either “in transit” or “expected to become available in December”. They don’t even have a single available Sienna to go test drive. Yet somehow, they still sell every single one.
I guess in those circumstances, it’s pretty easy to get someone to pay at or above MSRP, if someone is so desperate for a Toyota that they basically purchase it sight unseen.
For whatever reason, Toyota has obviously decided that they are better off limiting production of Siennas and charging up the wazoo for them. I’d much rather have a deeply discounted Pacifica, having driven both.
I just can’t see paying the Toyota Tax plus a markup on a minivan. Or anything else they make really. They are good cars, but they just aren’t that much better than other options that sell for rather less in each class. I got my mother to buy a Prius – but it was a Prius V with $6K cash on the hood because “God Forbid, station wagon”. Good car, that. Shame she and my nephew killed it.
Granted i live in a heavily Toyota saturated market, their largest factory in the world is in my backyard, but for non employees its a pain in the rear to get a car without markup. If you want one of the hot ones (Sienna, RAV4 Prime TRD Pro) you have to get on a list even as an employee
Toyota could bring that wonderful little FJ and Hilux Champ to North America.
What could Toyota be doing even better?
Make the Supra and GR86 10% larger. They are incredibly cool cars, but it is hard to fit in either if you are above average size. Both would still be fun to drive if slightly larger, but far less hostile to the XXL gentleman (Mazda should also do the same with the Miata).
Aside from that, I don’t have a lot of criticism for Toyota. Their current lineup is excellent.
No, no, no, NO.
The entire automotive industry is predicated around “I wish it was just 10% bigger”
So, every generation of cars, from sub-compact to luxury SUVs just gets a little bit bigger, little bit fatter every single year. This is why we now have 4k pound two door coupes and 6k pound crossovers.
The Miata and GR86 need to be excused from this madness. If you don’t fit, lose some weight. If you’re too tall, understand that designing a car for the 5 percentile makes it measurably worse for the other 95%.
Agreed. The journalist feedback is forever “if it was just a bit bigger” every goddamn product cycle. So they grow until they’re now in the next size class, and a new model gets slotted in to the size category the car USED to be.
Then the cycle begins anew.
The answer, is to buy the right car. Corolla too small? Buy a Camry. Rav 4 too small? Buy a highlander. Tacoma too small? Buy a Tundra. GR86 too small? Buy a goddamn Supra.
I’d argue for the Kia Stinger to be about 10% smaller would have made me more interested in it.
That was the Genesis G70.
If only it just had a manual transmission…
“The answer, is to buy the right car. “
Fine, but one question for you – if someone is 6’2″ and 250 lbs. (a fairly common size in the US), what is the right sports car for that person to buy?
I don’t disagree with you, but if the right car doesn’t exist, how can a person buy the right car?
Probably most offerings from German auto makers.
My wife is only 6′, but she’s all legs and she fit fine in my ’81 RX7 when she was 7 months pregnant.
I do fit in a 911 comfortably, although they are more expensive than I’m willing to pay. The Boxster/Cayman don’t work for me, unfortunately.
It is frustrating that nice, affordable sports cars exist that could be comfortable if they were just slightly larger. I don’t think I am asking for too much.
It is also frustrating that many commenters here are very critical of those who drive larger vehicles, yet those same people are hostile to a suggestion that minor size increases would allow larger people to enjoy small, desirable vehicles.
BMW also historically makes lots of room in their 2-door offerings.
The problem that everyone always gets hung up against is that “sporty” is antithesis to “large”. It takes considerable engineering to overcome that. That engineering costs money.
There’s a reason the 6’2″ 250lb dudes tend to play the “field” part of track & field.
I have heard the Z3 is surprisingly spacious inside. I haven’t had a chance to drive one yet. I couldn’t fit in a Z4, though.
Yeah, I’m definitely far more “track” than “field.” That is usually not a bad thing, but it sucks when it comes to fitting in cars.
I’m on the other end of the spectrum. At a towering 5’7″, I’ve had zero issues fitting in any car ever. One of the few perks of being a short guy, hah.
Me too, and I love it.
I’m 5’8″ and 130lbs, I even fit somewhat comfortably in the backseat of my air-cooled Beetle. I love getting into a car that has tight bucket seats, it feels like it was made just for me.
I agree with this. I have a Boxster that I love but I would have something less costly and (probably) Japanese if they just provided more leg room. I am actually fine with being cramped at the waist and shoulder in a fun sports car if my legs would fit.
I remember trying to sit in a S2000 in the showroom when they were new and I couldn’t even get in the damn thing because the door hinge was placed too far back from the A-pillar and my knee wouldn’t bend enough to allow me to get my foot through the door opening.
It is frustrating all the great cars I’ll never be able to consider.
Well, I’m 6’3″ with an odd proportion (my legs are longer than the average 6’3″ person). I am a relatively thin 210 lbs though.
Because of this I was quite limited in shopping sports cars because very few provide adequate leg room and none of the Japanese offerings could be considered. I would love a Miata, or GR86 etc.
My recommendation is to shop for rear/mid engine placement cars. I got a CPO Boxster. Because of it being mid-engine there’s plenty of leg room for me.
When shopping for it, I drove multiple generations of Boxster and Cayman and all were adequate and even comfortable. If you’re heavier I suggest the 981 generation or newer since they improved the interior space quite a bit. The first car I’ve owned I didn’t push the seat back as far as it could go.
They can be pricey but there are enough out there you can find them in a lot of price ranges. You do have to work to find reasonable costs on service/repair though.
Part of the problem for me is I’m 6’2″ with a 30-inch inseam. I’m not particularly tall, but I am an outlier when it comes to seated height.
I probably am not going to find a small sports car I can drive with the top up. I can fit in a Boxster, but I look over the windshield. I could probably justify buying a cheaper, older Boxster to drive only when weather permits, though. A 918 Boxster might be worth a look.
If you find one with the power seat option (not all that common but it is a good one for me too) the seat will get quite low to the ground.
I would think you would have other options with American cars maybe? Although how many are left? Corvette, Mustang and… ?
Nice straw man argument.
Where was I arguing that all vehicles should be larger? We certainly don’t need an F150 or Suburban to be 10% larger. We don’t even need a Corolla or Civic to be 10% larger. I just want one damn sports car that can accommodate someone who is above average size. I’m not the size of an NFL lineman or NBA center, yet I have yet to find a sports car that I can fit in even remotely comfortably. Is that really unacceptable to ask for?
It’s not unacceptable to ask for, but I don’t think there’s a ton of money to be made in the “tall men with long torsos who want to drive a sports car but can’t afford a 911” segment. 🙁
Make the GR86 longer. Make the rear seat useable.
I’d make it my daily if I could comfortably fit my kid behind me rathe than ramming my seat into the rearseat in order to drive it.
Else ditch the rear seats.
What could Toyota be doing even better?
Finally abandoning Hydrogen. It’s really the only technological mistake they have and continue to make. While Akio Toyoda has been effectively dead on about every market trend, the billions dumped into Hydrogen Fuel Cell vehicles and technology would have gone far and wide to make their Hybrid tech even more game changing, as well as helped with EV competitiveness, and powertrains and motorsport ventures.
Hydrogen has always been a bit of a pet project for Toyota, but there remains zero future for it for the non-commercial vehicle space, the limitations and costs are far too great to be overcome when hybrids, PHEVS, and EVs do what Hydrogen promises but at scale and lower cost.
Put it another way, Hydrogen makes zero sense from an environmental or energy efficiency standpoint. Hydrogen may be the most abundant element, but getting it into a pure, stable form is extremely energy intensive, very often environmentally damaging, and the conversion into hydrogen and back to electricity is a net loss compared to just using battery power. It’s a neat concept, but a dead end. Otherwise Toyota continues to be the absolute best positioned automaker for the short and medium term state of vehicle sales.
Hydrogen research is subsidized by the Japanese government.
“Hydrogen makes zero sense from an environmental or energy efficiency standpoint. Hydrogen may be the most abundant element, but getting it into a pure, stable form is extremely energy intensive, very often environmentally damaging, and the conversion into hydrogen and back to electricity is a net loss compared to just using battery power.”
Your argument is weakened by the fact that Toyota has invested zero dollars in companies that produce hydrogen from electricity. The contract they do have for hydrogen supply at their port facility comes from a tri-gen carbonate fuel cell that generates 2.3 MW of electricity and also hot water at the same time as hydrogen.
I don’t think that’s entirely fair. The reason being, Toyota has long pushed Hybrids and PHEVs over BEVs because they are a more efficient use of resources, and better environmentally. Whether or not they invest or develop the infrastructure for producing and transporting Hyrdogen makes zero bearing on the fact that Hydrogen Fuel Cells for passenger cars are inherently a less efficient use of energy than PHEVs and BEVs.
“Instead, Toyota was careful and cautious, and invested heavily in hybrids as a bridge technology. That was clearly the right move.”
It was only the right move in hindsight from where you sit because America has lurched into the 1930’s.
In the regularly-scheduled timeline for the rest of the world, it was not a great choice.
“What could Toyota be doing even better?”
How about some actual talented designers for exteriors and interiors?
“In the regularly-scheduled timeline for the rest of the world, it was not a great choice.”
Nah, their point then and now still holds water. If the goal is reduced emissions, we can do more with 10 hybrid batteries than 1 EV battery pack. It’s what consumers want as well, even outside of the USDM.
While I would agree to this point at this exact moment in time, the goal of reduced emissions is better served by a majority EV fleet over hybrids. This has been shown again and again, and has been shown to be an even better outcome as the grid gets cleaner.
Until the buildout of battery manufacturing infrastructure (including getting the materials out of the ground) can meet a majority EV fleet, hybridization is a good stepping stone.
I’m not so sure that’s a fair statement. Factoring out the cutbacks of EV incentives in the US, Hybrids and PHEVs continue to gain market share and traction in other North American markets, as well as Europe and much of Asia discounting China. EV sales by market share are still in the 15% range, while hybrids are seeing 10-20% YoY rises in market share.
Generally speaking, the argument Akio has made for a long time on hybrids is fairly sound, that for the resources of 1 EV you can make nearly 20 hybrids, or ~6 PHEVs, and the net reduction in emissions and fuel consumption from taking 20-50% of the load out of 20 or even 6 ICE only cars is far greater overall than replacing 1 full stop.
Hybrid adoption rates have been steadily climbing long before the anti-EV sentiment and discontinuation of benefits due to this administration came to be.
There’s basically no learning curve or compromise with hybrids unlike EVs, so the dramatically better fuel economy is appealing to a lot of “normal” people. My wife wants her next car to be a hybrid.