ScionLife Editor

Filed under: Performance, Lexus, Scion, Toyota, Luxury



It has been said before, but this time we hope we're joining Toyota in saying it again: the brand should build proper performance cars like it did over a decade ago. Apparently, at least one person at the Japanese automaker agrees. Auto Express recently spoke with Toyota Europe Executive Vice President Karl Schlicht, who said:And there's evidence that the Japanese automaker is taking performance seriously. First there's the excellent Scion FR-S (known as the Toyota GT86 overseas), a joint-development with Subaru. And then there are other less-subtle projects and concepts like the Lexus LS Sports 650 shown above, a 650-horsepower super-sedan developed by Toyota Motorsport GmbH, and the more recent Toyota Yaris Hybrid-R, a 420-hp super capacitor-equipped hybrid hatchback, which also was developed by TMG. All of this leads us to ask two questions: is TMG gearing up to be Toyota's next official performance brand? Will it have a hand in the development of a successor to the revered but long-dead Supra?

We're not sure, but let's assume Toyota rules out another established sub-brand to produce performance cars, Toyota Racing Development. TRD has produced performance parts and accessories for awhile, and has even produced sport-oriented vehicles in some markets, but there's little evidence it will be part of a serious performance initiative at Toyota. There's something to be said about starting anew, and the less-known but more deeply involved TMG, Toyota's Germany-based motorsports partner, seems like it could be a better fit as a maker of "credible" Toyota performance cars.

We certainly hope that's the case, since the LS Sports 650 and Yaris Hybrid-R are two of the most exciting Toyotas we've seen in a while. We're holding our breath that this development turns out to be a global performance initiative, and not just a Europe-only forbidden fruit factory.Toyota readying TMG performance sub-brand? originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 13 Sep 2013 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



Permalink | Email this | Comments

More...