Interviews with Chief Engineer Tetsuya Tada

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__WRC__

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Lots of people buy cheap cars, and many of them want it to look exciting.
This is definitely true but then why does it need to be a RWD sports car which is almost always more expensive to build. They can reskin any crappy FWD car to look exciting but it takes an enthusiast to truly appreciate even an entry level RWD sports car over say a Honda Civic.
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Craigy

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This is definitely true but then why does it need to be a RWD sports car which is almost always more expensive to build. They can reskin any crappy FWD car to look exciting but it takes an enthusiast to truly appreciate even an entry level RWD sports car over say a Honda Civic.
Definitely seems like the minimum price of a RWD car would be at least $20k, so at some point there just isn't enough room beneath the 86. But you would be surprised how many more people can afford something for $20k but $26k is out of the question. This would be the only car in its segment, so there's really no good basis for comparison. It could very well be FWD, or simply not happen.
 

bballr35

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Definitely seems like the minimum price of a RWD car would be at least $20k, so at some point there just isn't enough room beneath the 86. But you would be surprised how many more people can afford something for $20k but $26k is out of the question. This would be the only car in its segment, so there's really no good basis for comparison. It could very well be FWD, or simply not happen.
FWD could be plenty of fun. The MINI cars and some of the hot hatches out there are good examples. I say bring it in FWD form if it can be had for $20k and is a fun little sports car.
 

divinesteer

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I say make the 86 the entry level (go down market with it) and give us a proper mid-engined MR2 successor. The coupe not the spyder. Position that slightly above where the 86 is right now. With the Supra above that, that would be a pretty awesome sports car line up.
 

EMTer

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Yeah I don't really understand how far sub a sub-86 could go. Perhaps something like what the Celica used to be, for ~$17-19k instead of the 86's $26k.

I think at that point it's more of an inexpensive sporty car, and less of an entry level sportscar per se. Lots of people buy cheap cars, and many of them want it to look exciting.
How much smaller and different than an FR-S could a Celica revival actually be. And at that price point it probably won't be a mid-engine revival like the MR2 :(

FR-S is already pretty entry level and a pretty basic sports car so something of a different niche like a mid engine entry sports car would make sense. Or is that just wishful thinking :)
 

MACKSTER

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How much smaller and different than an FR-S could a Celica revival actually be. And at that price point it probably won't be a mid-engine revival like the MR2 :(

FR-S is already pretty entry level and a pretty basic sports car so something of a different niche like a mid engine entry sports car would make sense. Or is that just wishful thinking :)
There's still a space under the FR-S for an entry level sports car. Look at cars like the Miata and upcoming Fiat roadster that'll be based off it. And the FR-S starts in the mid 20's. If they can bring a car that starts $5k less that drives well it might sell like hotcakes.
 

JT

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Very interesting recent interview where Tada San discusses sport cars for Toyota (including the MKV Supra revival) and Gazoo as a potential sub-brand to compete with BMW M and other performance divisions.

So... whatever the timing for the MKV Supra may be, it definitely doesn't sound like it's a dead project. :thumbsup:

Toyota 86 head keen for BMW M brand rival, successors to icons

May 8, 2016

http://www.caradvice.com.au/441775/...-performance-brand-rival-successors-to-icons/


Tetsuya-Tada-1.jpg


The lead engineer behind the Toyota 86, Tetsuya Tada, has revealed a goal to create a performance brand rival to challenge Audi’s quattro GmbH, BMW’s M and Mercedes-Benz’s Mercedes-AMG divisions, while personally dreaming of not only a Toyota Supra successor but also a new version of the iconic Celica GT-Four.

Speaking to CarAdvice while in the country for Australia’s third Festival of 86 event, Tada-san (pictured below) said he is adamant that Toyota needs a dedicated high-performance brand in its future and that the goal is not one he will easily give up on.

“BMW has its M Division, Mercedes-Benz has Mercedes-AMG, Audi has quattro GmbH, so they have a stance of a sports car, but Toyota hasn’t,” Tada-san said.

“So I would like to build that major sports car brand within Toyota, like BMW’s M.”

Although Toyota’s own TRD (Toyota Racing Development) tuning arm can trace its association with the marque back to the early 1950s, the influential executive says a further developed and enhanced relationship with Gazoo Racing – the racing and engineering team behind competition assaults by both the Toyota 86 and Lexus LFA on the 24 Hours Nurburgring – has potential.

“That’s one candidate,” Tada-san said.

“BMW and M and Audi and quattro GmbH used to be like the Toyota relationship with Gazoo – it wasn’t really one body, it was two separate things. But because of the time and the continuous effort, now they are together.

“So, I’m wishing that Toyota puts effort continuously, and then someday later, Toyota and Gazoo will be one body.

“The important thing is to keep putting in the effort and continue – never give up.”

Another area Tada-san is making every effort to invoke change within Toyota is in encouraging the marque to produce higher-quality and higher-performing cars, but also cars with more passion behind them.

With past Japanese rivals to the Toyota Supra, the Nissan GT-R and Honda NSX, both garnering high levels of interest for their respective brands, Tada-san is well aware of the currently unfulfilled ‘opportunity’ attached to a high-performance flagship Toyota hero car.

“Ah, new Supra…,” Tada-san, well-known as an enthusiast, says while nodding. “It’s waiting for you in Japan,” he jokes.

“We’re putting all the effort into making it happen.

“There is so much gossip about it may be happening or it may be produced, but amongst Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), much of the things people think, have already been tried.

“But trying [‘things’] and trying to reach production, are two different things. So, of the ideas from our team, maybe one tenth is the production car.”

Despite the positive notions (and recent spy shots of the BMW Z4 successor – reported to share its platform with the next-generation Supra), Tada-san refrained from giving any idea of timeframe of when any of the previously seen Supra successor concepts – such as the Toyota FT-1 concept unveiled at the 2014 Detroit motor show – would eventuate into a production car.

He did, however, share that from the workers in the factories to the man at the top, TMC president and CEO Akio Toyoda, there is brand-wide passion about making good-quality performance cars.

“At all companies, the core person’s ideas always come first. And at Toyota, our president, Akio Toyoda, seems like he is a chief executive with a passion. And he’s very passionate about making good quality ‘motorsport’ cars.

“And then because the man at the top intends to produce a car with passion, that’s what the company is looking for.”

Declaring that this passion is not just reserved to senior members of the executive team, but also many younger staff, Tada-san says everyone at Toyota is willing and ready to produce something better.

“So, I’m pretty positive that 10 years from now, we should be able to provide something good and built with passion.”

Further, Tada-san confirmed that ‘new technology’ is very much part of this future plan.

“Yes, sure. I’m equally passionate about those technologies.

“Of course I’m interested in new technology, but providing just simply new technology is not the ‘Wow’. So I want to have something more to it. I want to combine the two.

“One fault Toyota has experienced before, is we once produced so many various types of sports cars but when the profit goes down, they just quit straight away. And that’s the major fault. Supra is gone, MR2 is gone, Celica is gone…”

Continuing on that line, Tada-san reveals that if he had his own way, he’d love to see a modern-day production-car successor to the globally successful rally beast that was the Celica GT-Four.

“Production car would be preferred [not a concept],” Tada-san said.

First launched in 1986 and created to compete in the World Rally Championship (WRC), the Celica GT-Four was a homologation special manufactured until 1999.

Teaming a turbocharged 2.0-litre 3S-GTE four-cylinder with a five-speed manual transmission and four-wheel drive, outputs were in the realm of 180kW of power and 300Nm of torque (depending on year, specification and market sold).

“I would prefer a new Celica GT4 – turbo, four-wheel drive. [It’s a] really fun car and really fast. And [it was fast on] every type of road.

“[A new one is definitely] one of my dreams.”
 

Supraman

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All sounds good and promising that the Supra successor is in the works. But it's the same thing we have been hearing for years now. We know Toyota wants to build passionate cars etc. again. Show us something else already something worthy to talk about.
 
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black-supra

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All sounds good and promising that the Supra successor is in the works. But it's the same thing we have been hearing for years now. We know Toyota wants to build passionate cars etc. again. Show us something else already something worthy to talk about.
Agreed. But at least he's still talking about it. I was afraid it was already vaporware.

I've always thought they should make Gazoo or TRD their performance sub brand. Even Hyundai is getting into the performance/motorsport sub brand game with their "N Division" and Toyota definitely has much more motorsports and performance history cred than Hyundai!
 

S O B

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Agreed. But at least he's still talking about it. I was afraid it was already vaporware.

I've always thought they should make Gazoo or TRD their performance sub brand. Even Hyundai is getting into the performance/motorsport sub brand game with their "N Division" and Toyota definitely has much more motorsports and performance history cred than Hyundai!
Just because you say you will create a motorsports/performance division doesn't mean it'll be any good or succeed. Hyundai has little racing and performance cars history unlike Toyota which has a deep history of both. I think if Toyota decided to actually do something like this they'd be successful. Comes down to a matter if they want to keep building boring cars or really give the brand a shot in the arm.
 

JJR

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Just because you say you will create a motorsports/performance division doesn't mean it'll be any good or succeed. Hyundai has little racing and performance cars history unlike Toyota which has a deep history of both. I think if Toyota decided to actually do something like this they'd be successful. Comes down to a matter if they want to keep building boring cars or really give the brand a shot in the arm.
+1 Any company that has participated in F1 racing has been at the pinnacle of motorsports.

We've been hearing for years about how Toyoda and Tada want to bring sporty back to Toyota. The FR-S was a great big first step and even more so now that it's badged as a Toyota 86. Maybe after the Supra comes out they'll really think about a legitimate performance division. The new platform developed with BMW could be spawn off other sporty RWD cars for the performance division.
 

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In an MSN Motoring published interview with Tetsuya Tada, the Supra MKV's chief engineer, had these latest encouraging words to say about the project:


Screen Shot 2016-08-23 at 6.38.59 PM.jpg
 

__WRC__

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I never expected it before 2019 earliest so it's all good. A concept would be cool to pass the time though.
 

Supraman

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Good sign is he is talking about it now. I hope somthing is shown in the LA Auto show in November. But I agree it sounds like it may take some time before the production is on dealership lots.

I think I'm going to get into the 4x4 world for a while!
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