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"We are taking a hard look at all of the segments that we compete in to make sure we are competing in profitable segments and that products we sell have strategic value."
If they axe the Yaris, they can point shoppers to the Corolla.
Buyers of the Prius C will just move to the regular Prius.
The 86? There is no alternative, so I'm not seeing it as a good target. I also can't imagine Tada going down without a fight. It was his first project at Toyota as part of the call to make Toyota relevant to younger buyers - that is your strategic value. Granted it sells poorly, but even if they lost $5K on each sale (worse case scenario after factoring in marketing, warranty work, etc.) that's $35 million a year against the $22 billion in profit they expect for the full year. I don't know what global sales look like.
If nothing else the platform is still good. It passes all of the modern crash tests. It is efficient. It doesn't need new safety tech except what is mandated like the backup camera. It doesn't need to be re-engineered. Doing a second gen shouldn't be costly.
I think the trouble will be Subaru. Given the recent spat of recalls wiping out their profits, they might push to step away from the project. At that point, I'm not sure what you do. I don't know what their agreement looks like, or if Subaru would continue to supply engines and build the thing.
There is always Mazda. Although any sports car project might take years before we see any sort of final product.
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