Toyota blames video games for decline in auto sales

[tricky_ab]

Originally Posted by E Double

the should have just produced more manual JZX100 chasers and mark II's. their new cars are just plain ugly.

Quoted for truth...

[Matej]

Originally Posted by DETT

“Video game consoles are the problem. With such realistic play available they don’t need cars or anything anymore.”

Haha, thanks to video games, I do not need a thing.


Agree that Supras are ugly. Both the older and newer versions, in my opinion.

This car might be kind of neat though.

[WISH ONE]

its seems that in the sh*t-storm that toyota is in right now theyll blame just about anything...

[ronmcdon]

Originally Posted by WISH ONE

its seems that in the sh*t-storm that toyota is in right now they'll blame just about anything...

What shit storm?

They're doing pretty good as a manufacturer right now.
The article just mentioned they had trouble selling to young kids in Japan.
They're nitpicking they can't perform well in particular niche.

[DETT]

Originally Posted by ronmcdon

What shit storm?

They're doing pretty good as a manufacturer right now.
The article just mentioned they had trouble selling to young kids in Japan.
They're nitpicking they can't perform well in particular niche.

I think the sad truth for their sales in Japanese youth is that the majority would prefer to buy a 24 year old 86 over a brand new yaris mainly in part the blandness of the cars coming out and the price, who in there right mind pays 16K for a damn yaris brand new? At most that car should be 8k considering the amenities a used car in the 16K or 8K dollar range that the yaris cannot compete with.

[nismo 240sx]

seems like everyone agreed supras are fugly as shit..the only thing they actually had were the engines and tail lights! interior is crap i hate it!

[ESmorz]

Originally Posted by Matej

Haha, thanks to video games, I do not need a thing.


Agree that Supras are ugly. Both the older and newer versions, in my opinion.

This car might be kind of neat though.

I love how this turned into a "I hate Supras" thread, but man are they ugly.

Now that that is off my chest, I would like to say I will probably be getting one of those Toyobaru's once it comes out. As long as they dont make it fat and boring by production time.

[ronmcdon]

Originally Posted by DETT

I think the sad truth for their sales in Japanese youth is that the majority would prefer to buy a 24 year old 86 over a brand new yaris mainly in part the blandness of the cars coming out and the price, who in there right mind pays 16K for a damn yaris brand new? At most that car should be 8k considering the amenities a used car in the 16K or 8K dollar range that the yaris cannot compete with.

To be fair, there aren't a lot of fun cars @ 16k anyhow from any manufacturer.
Unless you consider the Fit to be acceptable.
You also figure in Japan, the taxes are typically higher than the US.
Ppl are probably paying closer to 20-30k for that Yaris/Fit or whatever.

About the acticle:
It didn't differentiate between:

A) Youth are buying other brands other than Toyota.
B) Youth are NOT buying cars period.

So it's really difficult to speculate exactly what the issue is.

But yeah, I would have to say Toyota built more 'fun to drive' cars in the past.
You have to figure a lot of younger drivers don't care about the way a car drives.
They just want to look cool, hence the creation of brands like Scion.
I'm certain that what Toyota's intended demographic.
It be interesting to see if Scion is doing well, and who are the ppl that buy them.

For better or worse, it would seem a lot more ppl actually care about how their cars drive.

Here in Los Angeles, all the slow drivers drive Lexus, or a toyota (prius & camries are the worst offenders).
Toyota has more of less become the new Caddilac.
Even the current lineup of Caddillac is more youth orientated.

[bardabe]

Originally Posted by DALAZ_68

OMFG.... and im Eight...

9th Motion here

[ZenkiKid]

at least with video games you wont die if you crash because the gas pedal sticks.

[DETT]

Originally Posted by ESmorz

I love how this turned into a "I hate Supras" thread, but man are they ugly.

Now that that is off my chest, I would like to say I will probably be getting one of those Toyobaru's once it comes out. As long as they dont make it fat and boring by production time.

Not necessarily I hate supra thread, just recognizing that Toyota has a hard time making a "good" looking car, with those terms if the toyobaru the only thing I really hope that retains from the concept is no more carpet, honestly I hate the shit. I hate vacuuming, I hate scrubbing out stains, I hate getting shit caught in it and it turns to an ugly mess. I had a wrangler that I tore the carpet out of and had it rhino lined, I love this just have a hard surface when it gets nasty spray it out and wipe it down, done.

If the Toyobaru turns out a pig I'm tearing it apart, putting in a 6 point cage, tearing out the back seat, and be done with it, no need for useless shit.

Originally Posted by ronmcdon

To be fair, there aren't a lot of fun cars @ 16k anyhow from any manufacturer.
Unless you consider the Fit to be acceptable.
You also figure in Japan, the taxes are typically higher than the US.
Ppl are probably paying closer to 20-30k for that Yaris/Fit or whatever.

About the acticle:
It didn't differentiate between:

A) Youth are buying other brands other than Toyota.
B) Youth are NOT buying cars period.

So it's really difficult to speculate exactly what the issue is.

But yeah, I would have to say Toyota built more 'fun to drive' cars in the past.
You have to figure a lot of younger drivers don't care about the way a car drives.
They just want to look cool, hence the creation of brands like Scion.
I'm certain that what Toyota's intended demographic.
It be interesting to see if Scion is doing well, and who are the ppl that buy them.

For better or worse, it would seem a lot more ppl actually care about how their cars drive.

Here in Los Angeles, all the slow drivers drive Lexus, or a toyota (prius & camries are the worst offenders).
Toyota has more of less become the new Caddilac.
Even the current lineup of Caddillac is more youth orientated.

You sir have a wonderful point, it seems as of late the automotive market has shifted and the companies true colors have shown, and now that everything is in a recession deeply they are paying dearly with their uninteresting heeps. It's hard to speculate exactly what is going on but one can only hope for a new tuner revolution to spark, and as I see concepts for the new Toyobaru and hopefully a new silvia we may get what we need.

[98s14inaz]

Besides the Lexus LF-A all Toyota's cars are boring as hell. I don't care how much cheaper it is to build a fwd car, most consumers know the difference and are bored out of their minds when they drive them. Scion was a worthy effort and Lexus has always had interesting cars but...Scion lacked balls and most of us can't afford lexus. IMHO.

[BOROSUN]

gimme a ugly supra...i want a ugly supraaaaaa!

[ronmcdon]

Originally Posted by 98s14inaz

Besides the Lexus LF-A all Toyota's cars are boring as hell. I don't care how much cheaper it is to build a fwd car, most consumers know the difference and are bored out of their minds when they drive them. Scion was a worthy effort and Lexus has always had interesting cars but...Scion lacked balls and most of us can't afford lexus. IMHO.

It's not really so much about fwd, imo.
It's more about their approach towards building cars that are VERY comfort orientated, at the high expense of overall driver feedback.
Toyotas typically have much softer suspensions, lighter steering, & generally not the best feedback.
Even if their road cars had the performance (which they do not w/ respects to their competitors), they don't communicate to the driver.
It's not that there's anything necessarily bad about the cars.
It's just built for ppl who probably don't enjoy driving & want something very comfy.

Most current Lexus are rwd or awd,
but that doesn't make them any more fun to drive.
I know I would prefer a more responsive & agile fwd civic Si, than say a more vague IS 250/350 (test drove both).

[WISH ONE]

Originally Posted by ronmcdon

What shit storm?

They're doing pretty good as a manufacturer right now.
The article just mentioned they had trouble selling to young kids in Japan.
They're nitpicking they can't perform well in particular niche.

What do you mean theyre doing pretty good??

"Toyota Motor Corp., battered by plunging global sales, reported its worst annual loss since its 1937 founding -- and forecast even more red ink in the year ahead. The world's largest carmaker said today its net loss for the January-March quarter was 765.8 billion yen ($7.7 billion) -- bigger than General Motors reported for the same period. That brings Toyota's fiscal year loss to a larger-than-expected 436.94 billion yen ($4.4 billion), a dramatic reversal from the record profit of 1.72 trillion yen it earned the previous year.
With demand contracting sharply in the U.S., Europe and Japan, Toyota is projecting its losses for the fiscal year through March 2010 will grow to 550 billion yen ($5.55 billion).
President Katsuaki Watanabe said the devastating results were caused by "the significant deterioration in vehicle sales, particularly in the U.S. and Europe,"
and also all the lawsuits... pshh doing good... right.

[illvialuver]

Originally Posted by ESmorz

I blame all of Toyota's boring fucking cars.

word, all there cars since the last supra have all sucked.

plus the high cost of ownership of cars in Japan, including cost of fuel, parking, tolls, and everything else combined with limited income.

[ronmcdon]

Originally Posted by WISH ONE

What do you mean theyre doing pretty good??

"Toyota Motor Corp., battered by plunging global sales, reported its worst annual loss since its 1937 founding -- and forecast even more red ink in the year ahead. The world's largest carmaker said today its net loss for the January-March quarter was 765.8 billion yen ($7.7 billion) -- bigger than General Motors reported for the same period. That brings Toyota's fiscal year loss to a larger-than-expected 436.94 billion yen ($4.4 billion), a dramatic reversal from the record profit of 1.72 trillion yen it earned the previous year.
With demand contracting sharply in the U.S., Europe and Japan, Toyota is projecting its losses for the fiscal year through March 2010 will grow to 550 billion yen ($5.55 billion).
President Katsuaki Watanabe said the devastating results were caused by "the significant deterioration in vehicle sales, particularly in the U.S. and Europe,"
and also all the lawsuits... pshh doing good... right.

Well, I guess 'good' & 'now' are ambiguous.
Everyone more less got hit during financial crisis.
The article you quoted did say one of the reason behind losses were poor sales in the US, not so surprisingly.
Relative to other auto manufacturers (if not businesses in general last year), Toyota did well.

Even by your info, you see that Toyota made 1,720 billion Japanese yen last year.
This year they lost 550 billion.
If you're evaluating the company from a year to year basis, and just using that single criterion then of course it looks bad.
If you're evaluating the company from the same criterion, but on a long term basis, they're actually doing great.
In 2007, they sold approx 2.6 million autos in the US.
In 2008, their sales dropped to 2.2 million (comparable to sales figures in 2005).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota

If you look at their stock prices (TM) at the NYSE,
earlier this year their stock prices were below $60 share.
today, they are barely under $80 (up by a staggering 33%).

you also have to figure they still are the largest auto manufacturer today.
it's a large business, overhead will always be high.
they're not going to making bank 100% of the time.
If they are doing well in the long run,
then they should not be discounted for a below average performance during a single year.

[WISH ONE]

you have a very valid point^.
But there are alot of other factors affecting their current finnancial crisis and the reputation they have established in past years.
I wont get into details (lazy)but there are alot of things that have been said and things i have heard, "behind the scenes" lol and after having read some other articles about poor quality control, lawsuits, racketeering cases, I think less of toyota. They have done great in past years and its shame that after getting #1 automaker last year, all these bad things happen.
Many of the engineers at my current company flocked over from toyota.
I really hope things get better.

[SimpleSexy180]

I can't believe Toyota would say something stupid like that. They really think they have exciting cars out? -_-

[WanganRunner]

In the US, we are seeing decreased interest in NEW cars, but people are still very much into cars in general.

In Japan, the car culture really is dying, albeit slowly. It isn't because there aren't appealing new cars, it's because they've been in 15 years of economic decline and kids there would rather spend their money on the newest cell phone than the newest Toyota.

It's just become less of a priority, for whatever reason.

I think it may come back some, but it's not ever going to be like the early 90's again unless Japan's economy recovers.

Honestly, the videogame industry over there is tanking also, for the same economic reasons.

[fckillerbee]

FWD cars are boring to drive. Who under 30, that lives on their own, can afford a 600-700 car payment plus insurance, plus gas, plus costs to make it their own. Look at Scion, under 20k for base models. that's 350-400 bucks a month....for a cheap car. plus all the other shit i want to add onto the car. I can't afford a car payment and have the ability to dump money into tires, mods, and all the shit I end up braking. That is why if I ever did end up financing a car, it would be the GENESIS. gorgeous car, cheap considering anything with performance seems to start at 30k. that in my opinion is the only reasonable purcahse...but still....expensive. Oh, and not to mention. don't get a old man discount on insurance till 25 anyways.

I don't need carpet in my car, I don't need super duper stereo system from the manufacturer, I don't need navi in socal, I also don't need ugly 17 and 18 inch wheels that the manufacture for some reason thinks is good looking, and fuck paying more for a spoiler. give me a bucket seat, manual trans, stiff suspension, and lsd! AND SOME ROLL UP WINDOWS!!!! except for the passenger side haha.

[Iron_Zenki]

Originally Posted by BOROSUN

gimme a ugly supra...i want a ugly supraaaaaa!

I would take a ugly supra any day
I love those cars

[drift_maniac]

^^ affter 4 months.. but while your @ fault, i might as well pitcch in my taught..

i think toyota is just runnin out of ideas, even their reason doesnt make sence.

They need to step their game up and come out with a new sports car.. yes the ISF, yes the LFA that soon to be released. But there havent been a big hit. Nissan already came out with 3 version of the Z since. Including the GTR. Hell even hyundai have a sport car now.

[wh0aitznic0]

It's because Supra owners have no style.

[ronmcdon]

Kinda interesting how this thread was bumped.
I was just thinking about all the Toyota recalls.
They've certainly had it rough the past 2 years.

Perhaps not such a bad time to buy some Toyota stock.
I have faith in the financial success of the company!
(even though I don't care for their appliances).

[dert420sx]

Originally Posted by ZenkiKid

at least with video games you wont die if you crash because the gas pedal sticks.

wow dude. you predicted the future four months ago! lol