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Toyota Wish.


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#11
tfyew

Posted 22 January 2003 - 08:52 AM

tfyew

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Hi ST Tee,

Well I see that you are a practical person but most falls on look. I'm one of them unfortunately. I really do not need that kind of space. I have 3 kids and if my parents or in-law are here I still can fit them. Unser for me looks like a van, may as well go for Liteace, somemore can save more money :)... No offence I hope.

Well it's quite sad to hear Chips saying the prob of coming here is thin, sob... Maybe in future I will be in Honda's camp. At this time, I still prefer Toyota as I'm driving one...

Regards.

#12
Chips

Posted 22 January 2003 - 09:09 AM

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Don't give up hope. I know that Toyota also has the International MPV project underway for ASEAN and it could be that this project is intended to provide a good replacement for the Unser/Kijang. The IMPV project is known to have the Wish as the basis so who knows, it could come in a modified form.

One thing about Toyota which you may notice is that it never takes the lead into new market areas, the exception being the RAV4 which was really a low-cost development during the recession to have a new model (a lot of parts came from other models, reducing development costs).

Toyota always watches what its rivals do, how they do it and then seriously consider the potential volume. If they see that it has very high potential, they unleash their considerable resources to come up with a model, introduce it and often, they just blow their competitors to the side of the road.

Clearly, Toyota has been watching these past few years and these mid-sized MPVs from Honda, Hyundai and Opel and has been waiting for the market to grow as people become more fond of them. In other words, they let their rivals 'fertilise' the field...

This reminds me of one time in 1985 when I was in Japan and talking to the Toyota director in charge of Asia. I asked him about his views of Malaysia's second national carmaker which had just started business and made minicars. Of course, with Daihatsu as a partner and Daihatsu is in the Toyota Group, he would not have said anything critical but what he did say was that Toyota welcomes the fact that Perodua would make cheap entry-level cars for Malaysians because this would have a positive effect on the growth of the car-buying population.

People who used to only be able to afford a motorcycle or had to use the bus would switch to cars and then move on up. And at some point, they would move up far enough to where Toyota could start to offer them cars. So you see just how far ahead the company looks and how broad their perspectives are. They are definitely not in the game for short-term quarterly gains but want long-term growth and so they are cautious and do their homework very thoroughly.





#13
mfo

Posted 22 January 2003 - 03:50 PM

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Hi all,

I do agree Toyota do not take lead into new market as compared to other carmakers like Honda and Merc. I believe we can see that once any new models launched in S'pore, M'sia has it too and very soon ...
What I can see is, Toyota is doing their way too conservative, or should I say they don find Malaysia automobiles market so good .... yet .... Think they have underestimated the power of buying cars in M'sia esp luxury cars. Toyota will lose out more if they think too long ..

#14
ST Tee

Posted 22 January 2003 - 05:27 PM

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Hi mfo, Long time no posting-hah ?? Smile Anyway, Chips was refering to Toyota as a whole, whereas your points are more for UMWT. Apart from being the assemblers of Toyota vehicles, UMWT has no real 'link' to Toyota.

#15
Chips

Posted 22 January 2003 - 08:19 PM

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Wrong - Toyota has 49% share in UMWT and they run the plant. The Deputy Chairman and Finance Director are from Toyota and the plant director is also Japanese.

#16
CUV

Posted 22 January 2003 - 10:10 PM

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Toyota did take a lead, eg

1. Harrier/RX300
- the first luxury SUV base on car, that is Camry

2. Lexus
- Luxury division created to complete with Mercs and BMW. This followed by Nissan Infiniti and Honda Acura.

3. Hybrid car
- The first to launch a half electric half gasoline car.

4. Fuel Cell Vehicle
- The First to launch the fuel cell vehicle, followed by Honda. Noted that the fuel cell is developed by Toyota themselve. If I am not mistaken, Honda use the fuel cell from a 3rd party.

5. Cross-over utility vehicle
- May also be the first to launch the Cross-over utility vehicle -> Toyota Matrix.

6. Scion
- to conquer the Generation Y

Toyota may not be conservative, they are more careful. They did a very good market study before launching any new vehicle. The above list has proved Toyota successful launching new vehicle into the market.

1. RX300 -> the best selling luxury SUV in USA. A lot of re-cond are found in Msia road.

2. Lexus -> the best quality car in the world, the only one equiped with Mark Levinson audio player.

3. Hybrid car (Prius) -> sold the most hybrid car in the world.

4. Fuel cell vehicle -> just started, so not much news on it.

5. Toyota Matrix -> waiting period around 4 mths.

6. Scion -> launching soon.

Toyota is innovative, but in its own way. They are extremely careful, making sure the success for any new vehicle they launched. Well, they do make Japan as a testing ground - the first Will is a failure.

You would say the world is a copy-cat. When others see Toyota successful in launching these cars, they followed. This is witnessed by BMW X5, Nissan Infiniti, Honda Acura etc. And it vise-versa. When Honda successful launched the Stream, Toyota came with the Wish.


#17
CUV

Posted 22 January 2003 - 11:28 PM

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Just found out that the Mark Levinson cost between US$10k to US$20k. It is only found in Lexus, not any other cars - WOW!

Yes! Toyota is the leader! They create new vehicles welcomed by everyone!

Chips

So far, I only see 2 incident Toyota is "follow-up"
1. Creating Soluna to compete with City in the 90s.
2. Create the Wish to compete with the Stream.

Anymore to add on this list? I doubt so!


#18
ST Tee

Posted 23 January 2003 - 12:06 AM

ST Tee

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Noted my ignorance about UMWT.

It's quite a surprise to me as the company does not really show much of influence from the good old Jap culture. Quality wise, Customer Service wise etc etc.




#19
CUV

Posted 23 January 2003 - 11:07 AM

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I believe Toyota is very careful, having good market study before they act. Just like China, they moved in late but they moved in with big investment and big dreams.

Msia is still protecting Proton. The motor-industry may already know what is going on. But the rakyat is still kept in the dark.

The sale of Toyota in 2002 is less than 30k units. Maybe Toyota feel that it is not the right time to make the move. But when they do, it is sure going to be a big one!

#20
ST Tee

Posted 23 January 2003 - 11:10 AM

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Well, let's continue 'WISHing' ... Smile We had now the facelift Unser, when is Vois coming ??