Quote:
Originally Posted by AIRMAX
Jordo..
thats 1 reason a vehicle development last 4-5 years, the first 2 years is basically investigating the market for it, benchmarking the competition and putting a target demographic.... I mean, vehicle development cost tens of millions of dollars, from concept to production, engineers, tool makers, suppliers, resources are allocated..... Toyota is the world's number 1 in Automotive marketing believe it or not.
Hence, WHY this car has been in development and has been shelved for a few months during the recession/GFC.
I do understand your concerns, that people might as well spedn the extra 5K and buy the car that has 50+ hp extra on it....
But you have to also realise, if thats the case... then the Miata wouldnt exists.... the Civic Si/Type R wouldnt exists.... heck the S2000 back a decade ago wouldnt of been born.
The truth of the matter is... Toyota is targetting the S2000 demographic... basically below the 350/370Z, RX8, Genesis Coupe etc.
Those cars are in the same engine output range.
Toyota from my understanding is going to slot this between the current Miata and the 370Z... that was the plan previously... but as you've heard many times they've considered bumping up the features and engine output to make it directly compete with 370Z.... to be honest, its a 50/50 toss up at the moment. With Concept 1.0 (mark I), its easily seen to be below the 370Z... with its compact sports coupe appearance and basic exterior features.... but now seeing mark II, I think this is the result of them studying to market it against the 370Z...
again, its a toss up at the moment...... Albeit there's a few debates going on at Toyota Japan HQ on which shall be the engine power output for this.... NA or Turbo.
I'm just hoping its not like the previous Celica.... which had 134kW (170hp).... atleast make it 150kW (200hp) to make some interesting comparisons with the 370Z owners.
But the Subaru version being under development also means that Subaru will enter the coupe market.... and this model is more likely to be the turbo version to compete with the V6+ coupes.
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If the price is creeping from the mid 20's into the high 20's for the base model, they absolutely should try and compete with the Z. They could beat it on price and reliablity while falling just short on power (but make up for it with TRD options) and still steal the market.
If it's just a hardtop Miata with a vestigal pair of rear seats, I don't see it really beating out the venerable roadster unless it can out lap it, which means equal handling and better power.
I'll be happy if either one of them has a turbo...
