The market is BEGGING....

[CaptainHenreh]

Those Japanese rumor mags are the same ones who have been predicting a "New" RX-7 since, well, 2002. All their "pictures" are artists renditions and it's all complete bullshit.

When I see a press release from toyota saying "We think we maybe might just have explored the possibility of maybe growing balls", THEN we can talk about this.

UNTIL THEN, as I have always said, fuck toyota.

[ScottyB]

swap the middle two numbers. It's 3725. And I agree with you, it's a good value for the $. Just not my bag. Baby.

the GTO is probably hilarious to drive, though. and relatively speaking, it's highway mpg numbers are very reasonable.

i hate that it weighs so much but i'm gonna test drive one first chance i get.

oh, and as for driving abrams tanks around...don't worry, by the time we get those, all cars will be automated and drive on autopilot and we'll have chips embedded in them to make sure we don't go above the speed limit. then the flat screen will make perfect sense!

[Goodspeed]

I think forming an actual committee and taking action is more telling than a BS press release when it comes to growing back some balls....

[CaptainHenreh]

I think forming an actual committee and taking action is more telling than a BS press release when it comes to growing back some balls....

A committee that only exists in the pages of a japanese rumor mag?

And still there is a scoop. Toyota having planned the FR sport of 1,500,000 Yen class as introduced so far, the new organization where in Toyota but, on the reverse side of the birth was born, there was ÔÇ£a commission which makes the funny carÔÇØ. In voice of the user that the recent Toyota car is not funny, the ear the result which it can tilt it is organization of the liver roasting which is completed. Being planned then so, just funny only car such as [serika] succession car and the succession car of MR2.

I mean, c'mon. I want it from the horse's mouth, not from a blurb in the Japanese automotive equivalent of the Weekly World News.

In reality, Toyota is in a unique position to not compete with itself. A small, F/R Coupe won't cannibalize sales from *anything* that Toyota currently sells. But they won't do it, because it won't sell very well and Toyota knows it.

I hope hope hope I'm wrong. But until someone FROM TOYOTA says something to this effect, this is just another S16 Silvia, FE RX-7, or "new Supra". Total horseshit.

[Evan]

Could Nissan build a cheaper 4cylinder powered rwd coupe off the G platform?

call me a prophet...(I hope?)

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.autoblog.com/2007/08/27/expanding-infiniti-three-new-models-under-development/">http://www.autoblog.com/2007/08/27/expa ... velopment/</a><!-- m -->

"an entry-level model that would sport a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine ... It stands to reason that the 200 HP QR25DE four-pot powering the Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec-V would be a good fit, and if Infiniti decides to continue with a focus on RWD vehicles, we smell a sales sensation"

this is pretty much exactly what I was thinking of / hoping for out of Nissan.
The only hitch is that if its badged an Infiniti then it will be heavier and more expensive than if it were badged a Nissan (and a 240sx/Silvia revival). Hopefully there will be both Nissan and Infiniti branded/skinned versions of this car.

[CaptainHenreh]

This is actually the most believable "Japanese Rumor Bullshit" I've heard. The G35 is the 3 Series fighter, and Infiniti has never really shied from having a true "entry level" car...I could actually see this. Infiniti sez

"See, all our shit's RWD, just like BMW & MB...please take us seriously."

The G35 has done wonders for Infiniti's (& Nissans) reputation.

[Evan]

Will Toyota bring back the AE86?

lightweight rwd impreza with a toyota badge (hopefully) in the works. about 2 years later than the original goal of 2008 though
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://automotive.speedtv.com/article/rear-drive-toyobaru-coupe-in-the-works/">http://automotive.speedtv.com/article/r ... the-works/</a><!-- m -->

[REED]

i just breezed over the article so I may have missed this, but what exactly is Subaru getting out of this deal?

the article made is seem as if both toyota and subaru would have their own versions of the car, but RWD and subaru don't really belong together, although I guess a coupe version of the wrx would be pretty sweet, like the old 2.5rs

[Andy]

i just breezed over the article so I may have missed this, but what exactly is Subaru getting out of this deal?

Affordability is the priority for this so-called ÔÇ£ToyobaruÔÇØ. Costs will be driven down thanks to technology sharing between the two car makers.

[ScottyB]

Will Toyota bring back the AE86?

lightweight rwd impreza with a toyota badge (hopefully) in the works. about 2 years later than the original goal of 2008 though
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://automotive.speedtv.com/article/rear-drive-toyobaru-coupe-in-the-works/">http://automotive.speedtv.com/article/r ... the-works/</a><!-- m -->

update:

Hans Greimel
Automotive News
April 10, 2008 - 10:46 am ET


TOKYO -- Toyota's long-anticipated sports car will arrive in 2011. It will be jointly developed with Subaru and boast a boxer engine.

The compact, rear-wheel-drive " affordable" car will be built at a new Japanese plant to be set up by Fuji Heavy Industries, parent of the Subaru brand.

Each company will market the car separately and badge it as its own.

The model is part of a sweeping expansion of the tie-up between the Japanese companies.

At a news conference here today, CEO Katsuaki Watanabe also said that Toyota Motor Corp. would boost its stake in Fuji Heavy to 16.5 percent, from its current 8.7 percent.

Toyota will pay 31.1 billion yen ($311 million) for the increased holding, effectively snapping up the last of the shares sold back to Fuji Heavy by General Motors in 2005.

Under the growing partnership, Toyota will supply Fuji Heavy with a compact car. Fuji Heavy also will start receiving minivehicles -- cars with engines no bigger than 660cc -- from Toyota affiliate Daihatsu, starting in 2009.

No more minicars

Fuji Heavy will eventually jettison all of its own minicar development.

Under the hood of the sports car will be Subaru's trademark horizontally opposed engine. The companies did not say how many cylinders the engine will have.

The car will sit on a new Subaru platform and be " designed" by Toyota, the companies said.

" I think there is high potential for this car," Watanabe said, adding that it will be sold in Japan and overseas. " We haven't had a sports car for a long time. This is a long-awaited-for model."

Pricing would be " not prohibitively high," he said.

Other details, such as engine displacement and production volume, are under wraps. But Fuji Heavy President Ikuo Mori said he has driven the test vehicle and is pleased.

" I'm confident we have an excellent car," Mori said.

New Fuji plant

Fuji Heavy will build a plant next to its Gunma Oizumi engine and transmission factory to manufacture the sports car. It will start operation in late 2011.

Work there may expand to include other Toyota-commissioned vehicles, Mori said. Fuji Heavy is deciding how big to make the plant and how much money to invest.

The new car fills a gap left by the retirement of the MRS two-seater. Toyota's midengined MR2 dates back to 1984. It was rechristened the MRS in 1999 and retired last year.

Other sporty models over the years have included the Celica, which was discontinued in 2006, and the Supra, on the roads for nearly a quarter of a century from 1978 to 2002.

Watanabe said the success of the joint manufacturing at Fuji Heavy's Lafayette, Ind., plant pushed him to go ahead with the sports car. That plant now makes Camrys for Toyota.

" We thought what might be the next step," he said. " Fuji

[CaptainHenreh]

It's gonna be fat, slow, and expensive.

[WRXtranceformed]

Each company will market the car separately and badge it as its own.

Huh?? I don't get it.

[Maengelito]

Pricing would be " not prohibitively high," he said.

lol, but juuuuuust high enough

[Apoc]

Each company will market the car separately and badge it as its own.

Huh?? I don't get it.

Think Mercury and Ford.

[WRXtranceformed]

Ah, like WRX and Saabaru?

[Evan]

Read this today on autoblog and thought it was a great quote

As a tyke I staged an all-out assault on my parents' better judgment for a G.I. Joe hovercraft. Not three months had passed following their surrender when I ransomed my mischievousness for the next toy my happiness hinged upon. Oh, that hovercraft? Forgotten. The auto industry works the same way. We often convince automakers that we'll buy every cool car they'd make if they would just grow a pair and build 'em. They do their part and then... we don't. The trust is broken and we're back to buying what automakers know will sell.

soooo true

[CaptainHenreh]

I think I said something very similar on the GRM forum.

Nobody *really* wants to buy a 20k rwd "neatbox". What we want is someone ELSE to buy a 20k rwd "neatbox", them to drive it for a year or 3, then buy it from them for 2500 bucks.

That's what we REALLY want.

[Andy]

I think I said something very similar on the GRM forum.

Nobody *really* wants to buy a 20k rwd "neatbox". What we want is someone ELSE to buy a 20k rwd "neatbox", them to drive it for a year or 3, then buy it from them for 2500 bucks.

That's what we REALLY want.

You said that here too. Also, if you kill Joan, I swear I'll buy a 20K neatbox. The gun will be my treat.

[Evan]

I think I said something very similar on the GRM forum.

Nobody *really* wants to buy a 20k rwd "neatbox". What we want is someone ELSE to buy a 20k rwd "neatbox", them to drive it for a year or 3, then buy it from them for 2500 bucks.

That's what we REALLY want.

I disagree 100%. I dont think that quote applies here at all, although this was the best thread I to put it in. (the quote, btw, is in reference to the Pontiac G8, which makes a lot more sense)

I would buy one. Ive been thinking of BMWs and other stupid expensive crap because there is no good alternative.
FWD Sport compacts have been immensely successful over the past 20 years. How would giving them less suck and better handling be a bad thing that no one wants to buy?
The only hard part is finding the cost savings of platform engineering, and with a lot of car companies now coming out with rwd platforms, there is no reason not to do a cheap rwd sport compact.



and wtf is a 'neat'box?

[.RJ]

:dunno:

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/07/30/confi...ement-rwd/

I wouldn't laugh just yet

RWD, 2.0L Turbo w/6spd manual transmission