Interviews with Chief Engineer Tetsuya Tada

[Jdmuscle]

Aw man, if you knew how hard Tada-San and his team fought to make things their way, you'd be distraught. There's a reason he's got the gray hairs, let me tell you. He went to bat for enthusiasts and has taken more than a few proverbial punches in the process. The respect I have for him is genuinely immeasurable, and there are very few people left like him in the car industry that I know of.

New found respect for the man.. thanks for posting this

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[Supra93]

Btw thanks for the article @Supra93, this particular part is my favorite lol:

Welcome , and same here.

We should be getting another one in soon from some that attended the private event last week.

 

[Modal170]

Aw man, if you knew how hard Tada-San and his team fought to make things their way, you'd be distraught. There's a reason he's got the gray hairs, let me tell you. He went to bat for enthusiasts and has taken more than a few proverbial punches in the process. The respect I have for him is genuinely immeasurable, and there are very few people left like him in the car industry that I know of.

Personally, I love driver focused cars because it puts a smile on my face. I don't care about interior, just an all around package so I respect Tada. People want pricing and this or that but don't understand the work to make it a reality. I'm included as my knowledge in the auto industry is limited so I can only fathom.

I really hope he gets a fat, fat check that lasts him a lifetime or two for his children because my god, I made a note about it that he looked like he was twenty in the 86 days and now has shown his age in a matter of six years. BMW and Toyota both wore him down. At least he can finish his career with Toyota on a high note, more so if this car becomes a legend in a few years.

 

[A70TTR]

the car is only limited production due to expected sales, but as said, you should be able to easily order one and receive it in a timely manner regardless.

 

[supraboi]

Sales will be relatively small at less than 10,000 a year, said Toyota Europe sales and marketing boss Matthew Harrison. “Volume or profit is not the motivation for the vehicle,” he said.

http://europe.autonews.com/article/...toyota-will-seek-halo-appeal-with-supra-coupe

 

[A70TTR]

yep, 10k per year after 2019.

Initial production year is supposed to be only 6k units IIRC...

 

[2JZ-No-Sh*t]

Slightly off topic. A80's sales by market.

http://mkiv.supras.org.nz/specs.htm

Japan: 31,575
N. America: 11,673
Europe: 1,698
Middle East: 120
Pre-Production /Unknow: 164

TOTAL: 45,230

 

[A70TTR]

Funny you mention that, as I feel 10k units per year for this car at this point in time is fairly optimistic IMO. The mkiv did ~5k avg per year overall.

Granted it's always highest on launch year and refreshes and tapers off but still..

 

[Jdmuscle]

10k a year is super optimistic. They’ll celebrate birthdays at dealer lots. Even with the conservative MKIV production they spent a decent amount of time at dealer lots. I remember a Baltic car sitting on a Show room floor for over a year before it got sold.

 

[SupraFiend]

Yeah but it's a very different time and market now, hard to compare. Keep in mind the legend of the mk4 came into being after the car went out of production. 1 part F&F phenomena, 1 part tuners finally discovering the limits of the 2jz and the chassis. The demand for the car has never been greater, look at the current prices of mk4s. We are right back where we were in the early 2000s after F&F first came out, and supply of used mk4s can't keep up.

Also, the mk4 had some serious competition from the other Japanese manufacturers at the time, not so much today. The RX7 is gone, Mitsubishi has given up on enthusiasts, and the new NSX is in a completely different corner of the market. Only the Z soldiers on. The muricans and their ponies are in the zone right now, but if you want an affordable JDM GT style sports car, the Z is the only show in town (though Korea town offers a lower quality, cheaper knock off still I believe, or is the Genesis just a brand now?).

 

[Jdmuscle]

Yeah but it's a very different time and market now, hard to compare. Keep in mind the legend of the mk4 came into being after the car went out of production. 1 part F&F phenomena, 1 part tuners finally discovering the limits of the 2jz and the chassis. The demand for the car has never been greater, look at the current prices of mk4s. We are right back where we were in the early 2000s after F&F first came out, and supply of used mk4s can't keep up.

Also, the mk4 had some serious competition from the other Japanese manufacturers at the time, not so much today. The RX7 is gone, Mitsubishi has given up on enthusiasts, and the new NSX is in a completely different corner of the market. Only the Z soldiers on. The muricans and their ponies are in the zone right now, but if you want an affordable JDM GT style sports car, the Z is the only show in town (though Korea town offers a lower quality, cheaper knock off still I believe, or is the Genesis just a brand now?).

Agreed. The market is very different when it comes to the JDM brands. However, the Camaro, mustangs and mopars have soldiered on and are arguabably at their finest right about now. Just look at what Dodge is offering with the old school platform that the challenger is based on. Scat pack 1320.. how focused of a product that is.. business is there. Can’t ignore it.. Ford sells way more mustangs than Toyota sells 4Runners and Sequoias. How can they claim that there isn’t a market for these cars? Mustangs aren’t that cheap anymore.. average transaction for a stang is well into the 40s. Chevy sold over 10k Z06s in 2015 alone.. each one of them over 85k.

 

[A70TTR]

See that's the exception though, Camaros and Mustangs sell like absolute crack...

I think I read earlier that Ford sells 80k mustangs per year and chevy sells about 65k Camaros.

So there is a market for those cars lol. Japanese niche market cars? Yeah, no.

 

[Supra93]

Here is another one someone shared on another forum. This dates back to Geneva and is more of a timeline development article.

https://content.autotrader.com/cont...r:content/par/contentlist/article.275456.html

Here's Where the New Toyota Supra Story Began

The GR Racing Concept revealed at this month's Geneva Auto Show gave us a hint of what the new Toyota Supra will look like, and finally confirmed the return of the legendary nameplate. But it also represents the latest phase in the development of a car like no Toyota before it.

Three years before the red FT-1 concept's Detroit 2014 unveiling gave us our first tangible indication that a fifth-generation Supra might be in the works, Toyota and BMW jointly announced plans in December 2011 to identify and discuss potential collaborative projects.

Speaking with Autotrader at the Geneva Auto Show, Supra chief engineer Tetsuya Tada told the story of where his involvement kicked off.

In February 2012, Tada-san (then Toyota 86 chief engineer) attended the 86's first European media drive event in Spain.

But halfway through the event, he received a phone call from Toyota headquarters, and was told to immediately leave for Munich to visit BMW headquarters -- without giving away his destination. He discovered their discussion would delve into the potential of joint development projects between the Toyota and BMW.

He reported back to his superiors, explaining that a joint development project could be possible -- just two months after the announcement of Toyota and BMW's potential collaboration.

Five months later, in late June 2012, Toyota and BMW publicly announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two, "aimed at long-term strategic collaboration in four fields: Joint development of a fuel cell system, joint development of architecture and components for a future sports vehicle, collaboration on powertrain electrification and joint research and development on lightweight technologies."

The keywords here are clearly 'sports' and 'vehicle,' but Tada San explained the decision to make it a Supra took two more years.

"In the beginning, we had many other possibilities that we discussed; mid-ship sports car could be a possibility, or a high deck car could be another possibility," Tada said. This had two potential results: A new MR2, or a new SUV. The MR2 had been absent from Toyota's global line-up since 2007.

The two years spent deciding on Supra coincides with the unveiling of the red FT-1 concept at the 2014 Detroit Motor Show. While FT-1 actually stands for Future Toyota 1, it seemed to be code for Supra.

Fast forward to the Geneva show early this month, and the Supra GR Racing Concept is effectively the new A90 generation hiding behind a bunch of tasty GT3-like racing mods. We know the production version will share its underpinnings with the next Z4, and house a turbocharged BMW straight-six under its hood. Here's hoping we get the 86 big brother with a heart of M240i we all want it to be.

 

[bogglo]

"I think the new Supra will be the last present from Toyota to those who enjoy hearing the pleasing sound of a pure petrol engine at high revs," he said."

Looks like Tada really did have his hands tied up by corporate politics and regulations. In reality, I do appreciate his work and efforts to bring back the Supra nameplate. This might mean this is the last and final Supra and may be worth purchasing just from an investment standpoint (appreciation after discontinuation??).

He said I think. Does not mean its final.

 

[Spilner]

“Looking at the current automotive industry, the talk is all about autonomous driving, electrification and artificial intelligence. What that’s doing is giving rise to a lot of strict regulations, and that limits our capacity to make emotional sports cars; it’s getting much more difficult to do that. So for the fifth point, I think the new Supra will be the last present from Toyota to those who enjoy hearing the pleasing sound of a pure petrol engine at high revs.


I don't know how I feel about this statement

Same here, it's a little worrying

Sounds like MFG is becoming reality!

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