Interview Questions for Detroit from the Fans

[mas921]

this is the FALLACY that everyone falls victim to... those other cars aren't competitors! the thing i've learned is that toyota makes cars that fit THEIR standard, and do not try to "compete" with other brands. they offer what they think is a good overall package and that's it, take it or leave it.

i see you're point. I've felt so from an interview the RC-F's chief engineer awhile ago. But that's true to a certain extent, as every product has to go through competitive analysis (by them "accountants"). They can't live in a silo after all. and by all means, if no manual am certainly "leaving it". with less than 100in wheelbase this is going to be awesome drifter/autox car for me, so i need to cut the power to go around them cones sharper. (Porsche had this implemented in the dct only 991 GT3 by pulling both paddle shifters ... which was totally unnatural thing to do

From what I was told, only a fraction of people buy manual in that segment versus something like the 86.. Do other manufacturers offer it? yes, but they arent Toyota.

I'd personally be fine with DCT, but not sure how I feel about a traditional auto.

4% of cars in USA are manuals. but somebody on this very forum had a statistic stating like 50% of BRZ/86's are manuals too, maybe if we look at sports cars only the percentage is more reasonable.

and perhaps its archaic now, but the Getrag DCT in my evo x is quite notchy, and i have my dark side telling me am eating away the clutches everytime i launch hard lol. also correct me if am wrong; DCT's were developed for faster shifts right? but new torque converter autos are as fast or faster (8L90?) than DCT's. thats why every car reviewer seems to be in love with the New ZF 8HP's.
if its DCT vs Auto, as long as it shifts fast and doesn't shift up at the redline, am not sure why they underlying technology would matter...am I missing anything? plus torque converted trannys hold boat loads of power.

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[A70TTR]

I honestly had no idea that modern autos were as good as DCTs; that is news to me.

Looks like I have some research to do now.

 

[HKz]

I don't understand the decision making people from these Japanese automakers....I really don't. They do this not only for sports cars, but also for their 4x4 SUV and trucks. Look at Jeep and the Wrangler!!! It has offered a manual transmission since the Wranglers inception. Toyota pulled the plug on their manual trans for the FJ, 4Runner (direct Jeep competitor), and the Tundra. WTF man, manual transmissions are not only fun for 4wheel drive vehicles, they actually are very very useful in rock crawling and climbing. The R35 GTR....no manual available??? Who cares if it beats a Veyron out of the box...give people some options for goodness sake, who cares if you only build 200 of them a year....at $100k, that's $20mn that I guarantee you will sell very very quickly. If they end up stuffing BMW manual transmission in the FT-1, let's at least hope it is one made by Getrag (Germany) and not ZF....historically speaking, those Getrags (including the V160 and 420G) have been known to hold up quite well to serious punishment.

gotta keep in mind to separate the US market from the world as toyota still offers many models with MTs variants in Europe & Asia, which are auto only here in the states...the CHR & RAV4 for example are both in this boat..even the FJC was still being produced with a MT up until this year for Japan. regardless, for lifestyle brands like jeep which are usually bought for less than $40 K, think the argument for MTs is much easier to get past their financial board. sure, that is $20 mill worth of sales in your example, but how much do you think the costs are to develop a high performance car? even for something ridiculously priced like the LFA it was always pointed out that toyota wasn't making any direct money off of selling them despite 500 x $400 K (roughly) = $200 mill. so purely from a profit stand point it makes total sense as the most important market (US) unfortunately doesn't really have many folks who really care about MTs..

..but i certianly agree that it is still very perplexing considering toyota has by far the biggest profits out of all the automakers ($20 bill profits in 2017 vs $6 bill for VW & $8 bill for BMW) so you would think they could afford to throw their consumers a bone like that. even if it doesn't mean direct profits, it would be hard to argue that many of those happy customers wouldn't purchase a separate toyota on the side or at least get friends & family on board the train.

4% of cars in USA are manuals. but somebody on this very forum had a statistic stating like 50% of BRZ/86's are manuals too, maybe if we look at sports cars only the percentage is more reasonable.

IIRC the FRS/BRZ/86, Miata & 370Z were the only models to have around 50% (was as high as 60% for the FRS and ofc not including models like the Si/Type R which are MT only )

 

[A70TTR]

I've felt so from an interview the RC-F's chief engineer awhile ago.

I actually know Yaguchi too, and his developmental philosophy is even more towards not giving a damn about anyone else lol. He's actually my favorite engineer despite Tada being a cool guy.

But yeah, even aside from cars Yaguchi doesn't give a damn about anything or anyone. He's got a hot young wife and rides motorcycles too lol

 

[bogglo]

Its going to be a long wait for TMS.

 

[madfast]

There may be some truth to that, but I mostly think that's just what people say to validate Toyota's decisions. Maybe it's a little more true on a vehicle like this, but every other vehicle they make fits nicely into its segment.

it's not validating their decisions, it's understanding them.

My example of the Lexus IS F Sport; Yes, Toyota has proven that they don't care about the 5% of people who want a manual and don't care that it doesn't do as well in testing as a BMW and they seem happy that it meets THEIR standard, as you say. But that doesn't mean they didn't build the car to compete with BMW's 3-Series, it just means that they're ok with losing a percentage of buyers to the competition because you're never going to get all of the buyers anyway. That car was still a direct target; because Toyota/Lexus did it their own take-it-or-leave-it way does not mean that they were not trying to compete.

it depends what you mean by compete. take some of their market share? sure. present a better value? yes. but sell more cars than them? no. out perform them on the track? hell no...

 

[madfast]

I don't understand the decision making people from these Japanese automakers....I really don't. They do this not only for sports cars, but also for their 4x4 SUV and trucks. Look at Jeep and the Wrangler!!! It has offered a manual transmission since the Wranglers inception. Toyota pulled the plug on their manual trans for the FJ, 4Runner (direct Jeep competitor), and the Tundra. WTF man, manual transmissions are not only fun for 4wheel drive vehicles, they actually are very very useful in rock crawling and climbing. The R35 GTR....no manual available??? Who cares if it beats a Veyron out of the box...give people some options for goodness sake, who cares if you only build 200 of them a year....at $100k, that's $20mn that I guarantee you will sell very very quickly. If they end up stuffing BMW manual transmission in the FT-1, let's at least hope it is one made by Getrag (Germany) and not ZF....historically speaking, those Getrags (including the V160 and 420G) have been known to hold up quite well to serious punishment.

every transmission has to be crash tested, epa rated, etc. and that takes money. toyota is simply unwilling to spend that money because they know they will never make it back. there simply arent enough buyers to justify it's existence. sad but true....

 

[madfast]

i see you're point. I've felt so from an interview the RC-F's chief engineer awhile ago. But that's true to a certain extent, as every product has to go through competitive analysis (by them "accountants"). They can't live in a silo after all. and by all means, if no manual am certainly "leaving it". with less than 100in wheelbase this is going to be awesome drifter/autox car for me, so i need to cut the power to go around them cones sharper. (Porsche had this implemented in the dct only 991 GT3 by pulling both paddle shifters ... which was totally unnatural thing to do

and you can understand why a toyota bean counter couldnt care less about you drifting/auto-xing... because for every one of you, there are like 3 mid life crisis dads who want a supra and cant drive stick.... sorry, you lose. such is the state of the automotive industry...

4% of cars in USA are manuals. but somebody on this very forum had a statistic stating like 50% of BRZ/86's are manuals too, maybe if we look at sports cars only the percentage is more reasonable.

and perhaps its archaic now, but the Getrag DCT in my evo x is quite notchy, and i have my dark side telling me am eating away the clutches everytime i launch hard lol. also correct me if am wrong; DCT's were developed for faster shifts right? but new torque converter autos are as fast or faster (8L90?) than DCT's. thats why every car reviewer seems to be in love with the New ZF 8HP's.
if its DCT vs Auto, as long as it shifts fast and doesn't shift up at the redline, am not sure why they underlying technology would matter...am I missing anything? plus torque converted trannys hold boat loads of power.

the 86 is cheap that's why the manual take rate is around 50%. the corvette is around 23% and the 911 around 15%. ferrari? the market spoke long, long ago...

ZF's 8HP is simply amazing. most people cant even tell the giulia quadrifoglio is using it as it feels indistinguishable from a dct. torque converter autos can be tuned to be so close to dcts nowadays that they are starting to die off as well. case in point the F90 M5. i just hope toyota chooses to tune the auto to be a performance auto like the alfa.

 

[Guff]

Hey guys, let's keep this thread geared towards specific questions for the Tokyo Motor Show. That way, Admin didn't have too much trouble finding all of our questions.

We can continue the manual vs auto discussion here: http://www.supramkv.com/threads/bmw-says-the-days-of-manuals-and-dcts-are-numbered.594/

 

[Haros]

What's your vision for the future of Toyota and motorsports?
Honda is constantly engaged in their powersports segment and I've even recently just came from a demo day where I got to throw around a side by side. My porsche dealership even had a demo day where you can try and drive any 911 they had (minus the gt3)
With the coming sports segment you are developing, how will you reach to your audience? A test drive isn't a good enough example, what events if any do you plan to hold to reintroduce Toyota as a brand that's not just about the boring Camry?

 

[MA617M]

Do you see a GT-R competitor sitting in the Toyota lineup, or would a vehicle like that wear a Lexus badge?

 

[Spilner]

Do you see a GT-R competitor sitting in the Toyota lineup, or would a vehicle like that wear a Lexus badge?

just mod the MKV and you get a GT-R competitor

 

[Spilner]

R&T gave us a shoutout!
http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/future-cars/a12635049/2019-toyota-supra-what-we-know/

 

[A70TTR]

Do you see a GT-R competitor sitting in the Toyota lineup, or would a vehicle like that wear a Lexus badge?

Lexus and it's called LC-F

 

[25233Guyver]

Now that the Toyota brand flagship is to be released, will Toyota consider the return of a performance all-wheel platform? Perhaps revival of the Celica?

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