Bloomberg sez:
Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest automaker by value, gained 90 yen, or 1.5 percent, to 5,980. The company will introduce a sports car in 2009 to compete against high-end Ferraris and Porsches, the Nihon Keizai reported.
Don’t get me wrong…I love Toyota…but this is just crazy talk.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Steve craven // Jul 7, 2006 at 12:38 pm
Actually, it may not be crazy. Toyota has a modest history with sports cars, true, but they also have ambitious plans for their Formula 1 team. Toyota has poured an incredible budget into their team and the board is demanding a pay-off. While not likely to win this year, the team is getting better and could well be recording wins by 2008 or 2009. Perfect time to launch a high-end sports car, especially if by then they are occasionally beating Ferrari in Formula 1. No guarantees for Formula 1 success, but it takes so long to develop a new road car that Toyota might as well be ready to cope with success.
2 Tom in Indy // Jul 11, 2006 at 8:09 am
Lexus and Acura haven’t done too bad. Who would have thunk that Mercedes was so vulnerable when they were introduced. Besides the largest auto manufacturer should branch out into areas that look like opportunities. Toyota (and Honda) should sell extra exhaust systems, brakes (pads and calipers) and starter motors as a package when they sell new cars because the rest of the car just doesn’t break down.
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