Toyota has already announced that it has indefinitely delayed a joint venture with Isuzu to develop a small diesel powerplant, and now comes word that dwindling sales have affected another Toyota project. Toyota will be delaying the launch of a new coupe, which is currently being co-developed with Subaru .
The yet-to-be-named compact rear-wheel drive coupe has been under development for some time now, but Toyota has decided to delay the project amid slumping global auto sales, according to the Nikkei. The new coupe, which will likely surface in the U.S. as the next-generation Scion tC, was expect to hit the market in 2010 or 2011, but has now been pushed back to 2012 at the earliest.
Although the current Scion tC was just launched in 2005, it is already starting to feel a little long in the tooth. If the project is indeed on the backburner until 2012, look for Toyota to give the tC a significant upgrade in the coming year to keep the coupe from really feeling like a 7-year old car in 2012.
No word on a delay for the Subaru version of the coupe, but it would seem safe to assume that it too is delayed until at least 2012.
