Interviews with Chief Engineer Tetsuya Tada

[DevonK]

The A90 I6 was always going to be well into the 50s, Tada made that clear to me personally. call it a success if it doesn't somehow climb up into the 60s.

Very interesting. I wonder how much of the currency difference Toyota Canada will be willing to eat to keep the Supra I6 from costing more than a base Cayman or Vette up here in Canada.

I'd be more than happy with a $40k US 300 hp, 3000 lb I4 personally, as long as it sounded nearly as good as the I6. Unfortunately that is not very likely, no 4 banger I have heard is very seductive.

I mean, the 30i Z4 starts at 50k, let alone the 40i at 65k.

Of course BMW can get away with a fat pricing premium on name alone, something Toyota can't do. I'd bet $10k of price fluffing above what Toyota will charge is built in to the Z4 pricing.

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[DevonK]

While I agree with your statement, that doesn't mean they aren't competitive in that segment

Well if you don''t consider them sports cars then by definition they are not in the sports car segment so they are not direct competitors.

 

[justbake]

Well if you don''t consider them sports cars then by definition they are not in the sports car segment so they are not direct competitors.

I consider them sports car as mentioned earlier. I was agreeing with large and cumbersome.
Regardless of semantics, competitors are competitors.

 

[DevonK]

I consider them sports car as mentioned earlier. I was agreeing with large and cumbersome.
Regardless of semantics, competitors are competitors.

I was using "you" there generically to refer to those who don't consider pony cars to be true sports cars - not you specifically.

No doubt some cross-shop pony cars and sports cars so in that sense I'd agree they are competitors. Others may cross-shop hyper-hatches like the CTR or the A45 Mercedes. I doubt Tada would consider either type to be in the same "segment" as he was using the term in that interview though - it'd be interesting to ask him.

 

[justbake]

No doubt some cross-shop pony cars and sports cars so in that sense I'd agree they are competitors. I doubt Tada would consider them to be in the same "segment" as he was using the term in that interview though - it'd be interesting to ask him.

That's what competition means in the same way you mentioned the Audi TT and GT350R as competitors if it were priced in that segment even though one is a sports car and the other is a mustang.

 

[PerformanceSound]

That's what competition means in the same way you mentioned the Audi TT and GT350R as competitors if it were priced in that segment even though one is a sports car and the other is a mustang.

The GT350R is an incredible sportscar. Don’t be fooled into thinking its just a Mustang....it’s much more. I’d say go teat drive one yourself, but because of their limited production you can’t.

 

[DevonK]

That's what competition means in the same way you mentioned the Audi TT and GT350R as competitors if it were priced in that segment even though one is a sports car and the other is a mustang.

The GT350 is far more of a sports car than a regular GT from all I've read, enough to put it solidly in that segment in a way the base GT just isn't IMO.

A vehicle may be cross-shopped and so be competitive, but it does not follow that it's necessarily in the same market "segment" as Tada was using the term. "Segment" in automotive parlance usually refers to a group of vehicles with shared class attributes - e.g. mid-priced sports cars, pony cars, hot hatches...

 

[justbake]

The GT350R is an incredible sportscar. Don’t be fooled into thinking its just a Mustang....it’s much more. I’d say go teat drive one yourself, but because of their limited production you can’t.

I actually said the opposite, I even think the Ecoboost is more sports car than pony car, let alone the GT350R. Is it a good sports? That's up for debate

THe GT350 is far more of a sportscar than a regular GT from all I've read.

A vehicle may be cross-shopped and so be competitive, but it does not follow that it's necessarily in the same market "segment" as Tada was using the term.

Its definitely more sports car than the GT but I am not here to argue segment semantics. Just saying that I am sure Tada recognizes the Mustang/GT350R and Camaro/Camaro ZL1 competition at whatever price point the car is put in.

 

[DevonK]

I was only trying to pin down what Tada meant by saying there were so many competitors in the Supra's 'segment" of the market. If you take his use of the term to refer to high-performance sports cars and excluding base pony cars, it's clear that nearly every car in the Supra's segment at a higher price point - Cayman, M2, etc - not at the 370Z Nismo level. So the inference is that the Supra will be priced at or near those levels.

From all Tada has said to date I doubt he sees a base V8 Camaro or Mustang as the Supra's competition or in its segment, the Supra's handling should be at a much higher level. The GT350 and ZL1 on the other hand... which would support what I was inferring from his statements - the I6 Supra is going to be relatively expensive.

 

[justbake]

From all Tada has said to date I doubt he sees a base V8 Camaro or Mustang as the Supra's competition, the handling should be at a much higher level. The GT350 and ZL1 on the other hand... Anyways this only reinforces what I was inferring from his statements - the I6 Supra is going to be expensive.

This is where our disconnect is, I have not been talking about purely the 40i Supra since we have to consider the 30i model will also have to compete at its price point. This means the 30i and 40i model have to be priced right relative to each other and to other models that people will be cross shopping. The 40i supra is going to be expensive, we have known this, but it wont be so expensive to drag the 30i up with it. If the 250hp 30i hits $40k, it is an even harder sell than the a 330-382hp Supra at $50-60k IMO because the 370z, Mustang, and Camaro are well beyond the power at that price.

 

[PerformanceSound]

I'm scared to find out what they will be charging for the serialized cars. Please god make it somewhat "attainable".

 

[A70TTR]

it's definitely attainable, just depends on what your definition of that is lol. I know the ballpark figure, and it's not cheap IMO.

for reference, the standard RC-F is currently $65k. The Track Edition is slated to come in right at ~$95k according to my marketing/sales contact at TMS USA. the 86 GRMN was also sold for ~30k premium over base car.

the A90 GRMN is a bit more extensive than those two however.

 

[PerformanceSound]

it's definitely attainable, just depends on what your definition of that is lol. I know the ballpark figure, and it's not cheap IMO.

for reference, the standard RC-F is currently $65k. The Track Edition is slated to come in right at ~$95k according to my marketing/sales contact at TMS USA. the 86 GRMN was also sold for ~30k premium over base car.

See that's what I was scared of.

My source said something similar about the serialized cars in that, "you better be ready with whatever Toyota asks for it, because there will be no negotiation and no markdowns." He also said, "dealers will gladly keep them in the showrooms just to bring people in, they won't care if they sell them or not."

 

[mkivalex]

So you guys see this premium car being 80K+ USD...

Do you know what this car will be aiming to compete against....Will it be further refined with not a ton more power to go against a Cayman GT4.

Or will they throw power at it and make a Z06/Zr1/911/GTR hunter.

 

[PerformanceSound]

So you guys see this premium car being 80K+ USD...

Do you know what this car will be aiming to compete against....Will it be further refined with not a ton more power to go against a Cayman GT4.

Or will they throw power at it and make a Z06/Zr1/911/GTR hunter.

I mean, $70-$80k won't be too bad...honestly. But, anything more might force me to look elsewhere. My STI will be the fun daily driver, the R34 will be strictly for collection purpose, and the MKV I want to really have some fun with.

It's weird, I feel like Toyota is building the "alpha" cars just to prevent MKIV owners from stealing their sales lol.

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