Interview with Tetsuya Tada - Chief Engineer of the FT-86

[OldSkoolToys]

Originally Posted by RRnold

They need to bring back the "I love what you do for me Toyota" jump




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The jump actually pre-dated the "I love what you do for me" slogan. As far as I can tell, it was started with the "Oh what a feeling!"
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[RRnold]

Originally Posted by OldSkoolToys

The jump actually pre-dated the "I love what you do for me" slogan. As far as I can tell, it was started with the "Oh what a feeling!"
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Toyota's marketing efforts have focused on emphasizing the positive experiences of ownership and vehicle quality.[29] The ownership experience has been targeted in slogans such as "You asked for it! You got it!" (1975–1979), "Oh, what a feeling!" (1979 – September 1985, in the US),[29] "Who could ask for anything more" (September 1985–1989), "I love what you do for me, Toyota!" (1989–1997), "Everyday" (1997–2001)", "Get the feeling!" (2001–2004), and "Moving Forward" (2004–present)

Ah yes, you are correct, good ol 1985!

[Aki]

I grew up hating that jump, and was so glad when they stopped that campaign, haha.

[WolfpackS2k]

Originally Posted by 82mm 4g63

Comparing the S2000 to a Mustang/Camaro in sales terms is ridiculous, but so is saying the S2000 did exactly what Honda wanted it to do. They wanted it to sell decently for 6 years then have sales drop off at an exponential rate until finally being forced to pull the plug after selling 168 cars in 2010? I don't think that was their plan back in 1999. If it was, I'd be pretty pissed if I was a Honda fanboy.

It's actually well known that they never planned to sell the S2000 for 10 years. It was made to celebrate the company's anniversary and just hang around for a few model years...nothing more.

[ryude]

Originally Posted by WolfpackS2k

It's actually well known that they never planned to sell the S2000 for 10 years. It was made to celebrate the company's anniversary and just hang around for a few model years...nothing more.

+1 I thought everyone knew that :/

[82mm 4g63]

Originally Posted by WolfpackS2k

It's actually well known that they never planned to sell the S2000 for 10 years. It was made to celebrate the company's anniversary and just hang around for a few model years...nothing more.

Well I guess that means I have more things in common with Honda than I thought. I originally bought my RX7 with every intention on restoring it and leaving it 100% OEM. However, just like Honda, my actions show otherwise. If they just wanted a few years of sales, they would've killed it off before 2004. Instead what do they do? They launch the AP2 revision in 2004 which brought pretty significant changes. Then they crank up the displacement in 2006. And in 2008 they offer additional trim levels for the more track oriented drivers. If that wasn't enough to show they abandoned that "lets just get a few years out of this car" philosophy (if they ever actually had that philosophy in the first place?), the fact that they actually planned on an S2000 successor that they later abandoned in 2009 when the current MY S2000 sales evaporated, should be.

[82mm 4g63]

Originally Posted by ryude

+1 I thought everyone knew that :/

Guess not. Where was this press release from Honda? Any links?

[SUB-FT86]

I have to agree it makes no sense to make a car for 12 years just to not sell well.

[WolfpackS2k]

Originally Posted by 82mm 4g63

Well I guess that means I have more things in common with Honda than I thought. I originally bought my RX7 with every intention on restoring it and leaving it 100% OEM. However, just like Honda, my actions show otherwise. If they just wanted a few years of sales, they would've killed it off before 2004. Instead what do they do? They launch the AP2 revision in 2004 which brought pretty significant changes. Then they crank up the displacement in 2006. And in 2008 they offer additional trim levels for the more track oriented drivers. If that wasn't enough to show they abandoned that "lets just get a few years out of this car" philosophy (if they ever actually had that philosophy in the first place?), the fact that they actually planned on an S2000 successor that they later abandoned in 2009 when the current MY S2000 sales evaporated, should be.

This is continually going off topic, but you've got your S2000 facts way off. The only year that had significant changes was 2004 which was when they made the internal model designation change from AP1 to AP2. That is the year that the displacement was increased from 2.0 to 2.2 liters (US only). Not 2006. 2006 saw some minor trim changes and the introduction of VSA (stability control) and DBW throttle control. The CR model in 2008 was a hack job, requiring very little R&D.

And they didn't "plan" too much on a replacement as they never even had working prototypes or concept cars...pretty much just magazine and internet rumors. Though for the life of me I don't know why they didn't come out with a fixed roof coupe model based on the same platform. Seems like a huge waste of money to develop that platform for one vehicle and leave it at that.

It also shouldn't be a surprise for you to know that a lot (perhaps the majority) of S2000 owners/fans hold quite a grudge against Honda for not continually developing the S2000. That would include me as well.

[OldSkoolToys]

Originally Posted by RRnold

Toyota's marketing efforts have focused on emphasizing the positive experiences of ownership and vehicle quality.[29] The ownership experience has been targeted in slogans such as "You asked for it! You got it!" (1975–1979), "Oh, what a feeling!" (1979 – September 1985, in the US),[29] "Who could ask for anything more" (September 1985–1989), "I love what you do for me, Toyota!" (1989–1997), "Everyday" (1997–2001)", "Get the feeling!" (2001–2004), and "Moving Forward" (2004–present)

Ah yes, you are correct, good ol 1985!

Ha! I remember "Get the Feeling!"

[cyde01]

I have HyperRev vol 143 (S2000 vol 6) which has an in depth interview with the chief designer and they make it pretty clear that they were only planning on selling it to a narrow range of people and weren't expecting it to even sell as much or for as long as it did.

As a fan of the car, I for one wish they had gone for higher sales numbers, added a fixed roof model or even an automatic if it meant more sales and development of a successor.

there was a concept though..

[Slide]

2011 - Oh what a feeling!

Even has the jump in it!

Check bottom right of pic



lol can't belive its soo old...