I’d hardly call that slashing, more like a paper cut.

TOO BAD. I respect toyota for it earned reputation for quality and reliability (anybody who doubts that is just an ass) but at the minute I don’t think it deserves the goal of selling 10million cars a year. If it intends to continue it’s current design theme of forgetting to style the car then it deserves misfortune. COROLLA it’s main global product is wrong in everyway bland, odd proportions,cheap and zzzzzzzzzzzz.
Take a look a Mazda Toyota, at the minute I think they are the company every other manufacturer every other should aspire to be combining style, quality and the best reliability. The best turnaround in the last 7 years

This is what Toyota gets for trying to become more like an American car company. They saw the not-so-big 3 grabbing all the dough with their monster trucks and gas guzzler SUVs and figured they’d quit being sensible and jump onboard the fuel train too. Well now that the train has derailed it’s come full circle to bite them in the arse. If all those millions hadn’t been wasted on developing Tundra and Sequoia maybe Lexus could have had their LFA, the enthusiasts could have had the Supra back, and Scion wouldn’t be struggling with their awkward lineup of young cars that appeal to old people.

“They saw the not-so-big 3 grabbing all the dough with their monster trucks and gas guzzler SUVs and figured they’d quit being sensible”

Stop being sensible? Toyota saw a segment they did not compete in and went after it. Unfortunately they had three things agianst them.

There trucks were not as good as the domestics.
Truck buyers did not flock to their showrooms to buy the trucks just because they were Toyotas.
And fuel prices made some rethink buying the trucks.

One thing to remember. Truck sales are only down about 30%. That is tough on the domestics who sold primarily trucks but for Toyota it was a small part of thier sales.

too right. Toyota is trying to be more american and should never have continued with the Tundra and sequoia. The need to use the HSD technology in more exciting forms. The FT-HS should be here already as well as the LF-A. Only new product of late that gets my attention is the IQ city car.
I know the new subaru/toyota coupe is on the way,but style wise im prepared to be dissapointed as toyota dont deliver on the looks of its concepts.
GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER TOYOTA YOU HAVE EVERYTHING TO LOOSE unless you want to be a gready average megacorp like GM

Tunda & Sequoia = dogs. Over priced overblown crap. Yota should stick to being what they are good at, being competition for Kia.

If Tundra and Sequoia are dogs, the competition are also dogs. It’s a segment that has no need to exist and should die out in the next 10 years

All of you make a valid point. But I disagree with the statement made by F U A hole. the segment will never die out. It may slow down, but never die out. As long as there are above average people in height and weight and good ole blue collar workers, they are going to buy trucks and SUVs to get around in. Me being 6′5″. I refuse to buy a small uncomfortable car just to save a few bucks at the pump. Comfort is very important for above average sized people.

most people who drive full drive trucks only do so to accommodate there ego’s or the fact that they are fat fukers,
as for the height issue, the world’s tallest man drives a chevywoo tacuma

i meant full size

Hey, Swag, you may find this strange, but go test drive a Smart ForTwo. You might fit better than you think. My father is 6′3″ and 260lbs., and he fits with room to spare.

Also, he fits in the Nissan 350Z with room to spare. Just some suggestions…

You are right there Quite Swag. I was a truck kinda guy myself until gas prices forced me to rethink my vehicular needs. I think the point to be made here is that while there will still be trucks and truck-based SUVs around… they don’t need to be the size of the H2 to fulfill their purpose. It wasn’t until about 10 years ago that trucks became a battle of one-upmanship among the major manufacturers. If you wanted sales you had to make your truck bigger and more powerful than the other guy’s.
I swear it was a case of penis envy among the manufacturers that started the whole thing. F-150 had been the big dick of trucks for years… so everyone else made theirs bigger and burlier to try and win customers. Then when Ford retaliated and made F-150 bigger… everyone had to do it again. Now I can’t tell the difference between a 2008 Ram 1500 and a 2005 Ram 3500… or between the newest F-350 and a Peterbuilt.

Even at 9.5mm cars per year, that still over 26,000 cars per day; 1084 cars per hour; 18 cars per minute.

My question is this… what it Toyota planning to do in 20 years when their customer base is all dead? The average Toyota buyer today is 50 years old. I don’t imagine they get any repeat sales from Gramps.

To F U A Hole. How can you speak for people you don’t even know. That is like saying that all guys who drive big expensive care have big egos. Not the case. Maybe they just got money out the a$$ and their car standards far exceed the average working man’s. The same with people who buy expensive cloths, houses, etc…..don’t get made because you are at the bottom of the food chain……lol

i aint refering to the price im talking size wise. possibly making up for other short-commings

During the height of the ‘73-74 and ‘79 energy crises, truck sales fell, but they recovered a couple of years later…and exploded a few years after that.

Big SUVs and pickups aren’t going anywhere. There just won’t be as many of them.

Truth is, the OEMs can’t be faulted for producing big vehicles. That’s where the customers and the money were. No one bought the ECHO or the Tercel before it when fuel prices were low. But they bought Tacomas and 4Runners like they were going out of style. So Toyota committed more capacity to building them, and the Sequoia and Tundra.

GM did the same. Their auto/truck mix wasn’t always what it is now. Due to exploding truck demand, however, they converted their Arlington, TX plant from building Caprices, Roadmasters, and Fleetwoods to building Tahoes, Suburbans, and Yukons. The big cars got MUCH better fuel economy and were good vehicles for their day, in their own right. They were also MUCH more refined than the trucks that replaced them at Arlington. But no one was buying them, and everyone was buying the big SUVs. So GM converted production to meet demand.

Who stil;l believes Toyota has impeccable quality?

they do have deep pockets

I respect toyota 4 bringing needed competition 2 the big 3, but reputation for quality and reliability is now underserved. They R not that good anymore & G< is better.

corolla is a deusaster.

Mazda is amonong the best at cimbining style, quality and reliability.

Lexus sucks!

Toyota was ¢ible going n2 the truk market, it just went south.
Their trucks R not as good as the domestics.
Toyota buyers & truck nuyers don’t habve much of a cross cectionb.

Tunda & Sequoia = dogs. Overpriced overblown crap. toYota is poor competition for Kia.

pewople need trux. not worth discussing!

I a’m 6′5″ & foirt in my car.

there was indeed a lot of penis envy among truck manufacturers

what Toyota planning is to do in 20 years when their customer base is all dead is anybody’s guests, but i think there will always B nu old poeple w/ out reasons 2 live.

ktulu always makes me smile

ktulu gives me a headache.

…I usually just consult my Klingon dictionary.

Yeah, Toyota is really hurting.
I hope thycan recovr from this catastrophe.
DrFill

so what