allscion

Some of this ground may have been covered elsewhere, particularly with regard to the Scion-like marketing of the FJ Cruiser, but I don't think I've seen the Wall Street Journal link here on Scionlife yet ...


Paul
Allscion -- an e-commerce website with news and accessories for your Scions
http://www.allscion.com/store




http://online.wsj.com/article_print/...671743361.html

mr2death

I am a die hard toyota fan but toyota is lacking hard in fun exciting cars. The trucks are the funnest thing they have going for them i pray that they come out with somthing exciting soon and somthing to whoop up on civics and subi's. Scion is the funnest thing they have going and not that i dont love my scion but when it comes to performance we kind of get left in the dust.

uberscionofglendale

well, they've already talked about giving subaru reign on helping design a new toyota in the next 2-3 years (toyota owns a portion of subaru). so, that should be exciting. just in time for the tC redesign.....

Keitaro

I know what Toyota can do that could help the brand: Build and sell homes. Same MSRP price across the contigious states w/pure pricing. Price should NOT be adjusted just because the neighborhood has a high resale value. $200K should do it w/all appliances (sub zero freezers would be nice too). But this wont happen oh well.

http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/more_than...ing/index.html

Earthquake resistant design ( I like the top one very much)




Toyota's other non-automotive ventures:
http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/index_non_automotive.html

scionlife

Well, the FJ Cruiser is a step in the right direction. I'd say that more cars with removable or retractable roofs would spark some passion!

JustAnotherAsian

true. other non-automotive ventures of toyota have yet to be popularized in the u.s... like honda has. toyota has to have a full blown merge with yamaha, sell more if its boats, and introduce some of those houses here.

... like that will happen soon. lol.

djct_watt

boats. . . boats. . . boats. . . didn't GM build boats? Oh wait, those were called Oldsmobiles and they had wheels.

Over-diversification is the first step towards the financial ruin of a company. I'm not saying that Toyota is heading there, but it's treading dangerous ground. Gm was at its prime when it started to diversify into 50 billion brands and products. . . and we all know what resulted from that. And there are plenty of other historical examples.

But having said that, I will completely contradict myself by saying that I would LOVE to own a Toyota computer with a Toyota operating system. Windows never fails to fail me. I spent 4 hours working on Menu designs for a restaurant, only to have windows corrupt the file upon saving.

djct_watt

And like the others are saying; innovative design and good performance is key. . .
. . . I've owned a few different Toyota models before, and as die hard as they were, I could never love them. They were just too plain. The design is moving in the right direction. . . as are the engines (although I'm kinda ticked that the smaller displacement 1NZ and 1ZZ motors have not been updated yet). . . I really like what they've done with the new 3.5L V6 and the new 4.6L V8. . .
. . . but Toyota suspensions need some serious attention. . . stock for stock that is.

George

OTOH, Toyota has the examples of Mitsubishi and Fuji Heavy Industries. They make everything from microchips to oil tankers and seem to be pretty darned successful at it.

GM didn't really diversify. They just bought up competing companies and continued to use their nameplates. After a while it became embarassing because there was little difference between cars with different nameplates. Now and then one would escape the factory with an Olds nameplate on one side and a Pontiac nameplate on the other...

George

scionlife

...don't forget about Hyundai, they also manufacture everything known to man. Just my two cents. No other opinion on Toyota non-cars.

Charade_Detomasso

Give me a 26-32k car worthy of the supra name plate, a MR-2 in the scion line up (dont forget to release it under the toyota name elsewhere in the world, with a 2zz engine), and launch the TRD vehicle program (alongside a lexus performance division) and you have my love, Mr.Farley and TMCo. If you have a daughter i'll marry her, cherish her and give you some cute, smart grandkids....

R2D2

Right On~

djct_watt

Touche, but I don't know if I would go so far as to say that Mitsu and Fuji are profit rich companies. I forget the other classic examples of over-diversification, but I doubt you need me to remind you. . . I'm sure you already know . I hear what you are saying, and you have a good point.

appleguybruce

Y'all ,I got a interesting thought?A hybrid-convertable sports car priced somewher around $14 - 20,000 ,any thoughts?As a previous Honda Insight owner I know that hybrids share a all common the question of power?
One thingis that sport cars r mostly gas hungry? Well u could fuse sports cars and hybrids together along with the coolness of
a Scion.I hope some of Toyota or Scion excs c this?

Charade_Detomasso

Hybrids are to expensive to make the scion line. The MR-S isnt very gas hungry nor is the celica Gt-S....

Something along the lines of an mr-s with the 2zz engine would be nice

appleguybruce

Interesting I heard Honda was supposed to make hybrids a lot cheaper next year?Maybe it's just talk but, rite now the basic Honda Civic Hybrid cost $22,400.00 thats without anything /no options.The Scion Xa just standard has a new price of $14,400.00 and that is what made the final decision on me.I got the Scion Xa due to the fact it would take 8 years with no problems on the Civic Hybrid to be better than the Scion Xa .If what Honda says is true (which I don't think so)the Honda Civic Hybrids in 2007 r going to b the same price as a normal Civic.I guess I think too far ahead ? To me there r a lot of why's.I'm thinking far ahead and thinking of a sports car that can get 50MPG and kick butt.Since,I have heard a lot about talkings from this forum and such about convertables and such .I thought perhaps,I would share a little bit of my thoughts ,a convertable,hybrid ,sports car,anyone?

05_JDM_bB

I'm a big Toyota fan boy but yeah Toyota has been lacking. With the discontinuation of the Supra, Celica and MR-2 Spyder here in the US. There's really nothing exciting in terms of a performance car in their lineup. They need to bring back a fun car that fully accepts the hobby of modding.

Bring back a new Supra or atleast bring an AWD 3sgte powered Toyota vehicle to compete in the same classa as the STI or EVO.

Hopefully they can bring the Caldina to the states or atleast a next gen Celica All-trac or GT4.

djct_watt

The new IS350 rips up the competition in terms of performance and track times. . . but it seriously lacks in drive "feel." But when it comes to outright performance (mainly acceleration), it is blindingly fast. I think they are moving in that direction. . . slowly. . . lol. . . poor choice of words on my part.

George

IMO, the last car company to inspire love in its vehicles was VW. Despite their warts, the aircooled VWs had (and continue to have) a die-hard following. I spent last weekend at Lake Havasu at a VW bus meet that had 300 buses in attendence.

http://www.busesbythebridge.com/

Considering that VW last sold their aircooled bus in the US in 1978 and that most of the people attending this event drove hundreds of miles across the desert in 4000 pound vehicles that make 60 horsepower, I'd say that this qualifies as "love".

However, did VW find this "love" useful from a marketing standpoint? Not really. Once they decided to go to FWD and watercooling they pretty much turned into a Germanic Toyota. After all, VW, like Toyota, wants people to buy a new car every few years, not keep their old one forever.

appleguybruce

Ah ,the old VW's .They should teach the autoworld a lesson?Interesting , that they got 33mpg even back then?Yet hybrids of today only now get only 50mpg ,roughly?I find it so fascinating that in only 40 years of the automobile the volkswagon could achieve that high gas mileage ,have we gone astray?We priase automobiles today for getting the same now ,100+ years later after the birth of the automobile?My old 1972VWbug died after on the odometer getting 657,592 miles on it ,not to shabby.