Report: Toyota FT-86 will move up in price and age demographic

[ft86cbx]

Reported on BLOG.

Autocar is now reporting that the Toyota FT-86 pricing will be higher than originally planned. The FT-86 price will be upped in Japan from the original $20,000 starting price to $23,000 (with a fully loaded FT-86 being approximately $26,000). The FT-86 development team is also planning on reducing fuel consumption from the Subaru boxer engine (instead of increasing power).

Finally, in terms of target demographic, Toyota has now upped the increased target buyer age from 30's to the 40's. This is due to Toyota market research which indicated that not as many young buyers would purchase the FT-86 coupe as the company originally predicted.

[CyberFormula]

awesome....no more subaru engine...~

means toyota can go for a cleaner more powerful one

[ft86cbx]

Their market research also suggest that they now think they need to aim it at an older audience.

Strange considering that they were using GT5 to promote it and I cant think of many people that haven't welcomed it, never mind the original target buyers.

[enc0re]

The car is also likely to be marketed to older buyers than originally planned, too. The head of Toyota’s newly created sports vehicle department, Tetsuya Tada, told Autocar that his team had increased the target age group by 10 years, from the 30s to 40s, after market research revealed that fewer younger buyers would opt for the sleek coupé than first thought.

I like to hear that. Higher average buyer age means lower insurance premiums for all of us. And less stupid gimmicky stuff like OMG huge wheels.

[Dark]

Not a good move. Older audience? I'm just 20, so I can't drive it?

[timeatkuu]

I'm 20 as well... And I'm not one for aesthetic optionals.
Price is kind of disappointing to hear about, but I'll still buy it ^___^

[mockngbrd]

W T F ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

[Doty0588]

Most of this article means very little to me, IDC what the target age is, I'm 21 and as long as they don't try to change how the car looks dramastically it doesn't matter their target age. Also the price change will not affect me, as long as they don't try to increase it by like 10k. And I interpretted what the article said differently, nowhere does it say they are going to get rid of the boxer engine, rather that didn't meat the emissions they wanted it to, so I think they are just going to work on making that engine cleaner. Different head, internals, that kind of stuff.

[ichitaka05]

Originally Posted by CyberFormula

awesome....no more subaru engine...~

means toyota can go for a cleaner more powerful one

Where does it say that, they're not going to use the boxer engine?

[RRnold]

Projecting a 30-40 target age demographic seems rhetorical, especially if the price range is 23-26K. With all the performance potential, engineering detail and being under 30K fully loaded, I'm sure majority of the buyere will be in the 20-30 age group. (I'm 31 too)

I just want to see how the stricter 2012-2016 emission laws will impact this car.

[Doty0588]

Originally Posted by RRnold

Projecting a 30-40 target age demographic seems rhetorical, especially if the price range is 23-26K. With all the performance potential, engineering detail and being under 30K fully loaded, I'm sure majority of the buyere will be in the 20-30 age group. (I'm 31 too)

I just want to see how the stricter 2012-2016 emission laws will impact this car.

Agreed, I'm also curious as do how DI will affect the emissions, if i understand it right, wont DI also mean better fuel economy since it will be burning more of the fuel being squirted, so to speak, and since its burning more fuel, be cleaner emissions?

Also, just wondering, how reliable do you all think Autocar really is? I mean I'm sure they are pretty accurate about cars that are already out and all, but anyone else think of the redesign rumor from not to long ago? That's always the first thing that pops into my head whenever I read anything that isn't directly from the horses mouth.

[zigzagz94]

Originally Posted by ft86cbx

The FT-86 development team is also planning on reducing fuel consumption from the Subaru boxer engine (instead of increasing power).

DAMN IT!!!

I knew it was bound to happen eventually...the Prius driving eco-greenies over at Toyota are starting to infect this project.

Reduced fuel consumption probably means no factory FI (at least initially) and no high revving NA 200hp+ engine either.

I'm going to hold out for official specs from Toyota before I really start to rage but I'm not liking this new direction they appear to be headed in. Hopefully the Subaru version stays true to the original concept and doesn't get morphed into some bastardized RWD Prius coupe wannabe.

If Toyota wants to build a RWD competitor to the Honda CR-Z that's fine just don't F*ck up my FT-86.

[Ricepuddin]

well, that kills it for me! Older target more then likely = soft suspension, to many electronics, and to many driving nannies.

[4agze]

its looking less and less on what they promised whats next a hybrid, looks that way

if they lower the power down will they lower the weight more