16 posts tagged “toyota”

I have driven past this Toyota billboard a few times and thought, ‘Isn’t that Adobe Systems’ slogan?’

   It’s a bit far away but it reads, ‘We believe if you can dream it, you can do it.’ Adobe’s was identical save for the first two words, which were missing: ‘If you can dream it, you can do it.’
   I have seen ‘Nobody does it better’ for everything from Air New Zealand to Pioneer, but I can understand how that could be reused unwittingly. It’s a common phrase.
   Less common, however, is ‘The pursuit of perfection’, used by Toyota division Lexus. However, ‘In pursuit of perfection’ was used by Jaguar for years.
   I suppose Lexus wanted to ape other brands when it first started, so changing a word in a slogan of a company competing in the same sector might have been part of the strategy.
   I might have hated the ‘Everyday’ slogan for Toyota that was used for some time (who touts their products as ‘everyday’? But then, Toyotas can be boring), but cutting others’ slogans a bit too closely doesn’t sit well with me. Even shortening this one to ‘Dream it—do it’ might have worked, and be a bit more distant to the Adobe one.

The weirdos do come out on blogs, don’t they? Remember the nutter who wrote to my team saying that I was prejudiced against homosexuals? Just had one saying I am racist! Got to love ’em.
   It’s as I said to my latest accuser: those who claim others are prejudiced usually harbour some strong prejudices themselves. The first person I refer to above certainly had it in for some people in his or her email because their views were not in accord; the latter, I sense, probably is a closet racist, who took one message in the post (‘I harbour no ill will to Japanese people despite WWII’) and twisted it in his head to read the exact opposite (‘I hate Japanese people because of WWII’).
   Either that or Nathan works for Toyota.

I had been under the impression that Red Chinese automaker BYD was a Toyota licensee, though in Autocade I stopped short of making this assertion since I had no proof of it. I did think it was odd that BYD has Mitsubishi-derived engines. It turns out there is no connection, but when you see things like the below you have to wonder.
   Two years ago, BYD issued this photograph of its upcoming model, the F1. It since renamed the car the F0, because it claimed it didn’t to get into a legal dispute with the Formula 1 people.

   Look familiar? While BYD might not want legal trouble with F1, it doesn’t seem to mind legal trouble with Toyota. Here’s a publicity photograph for the Toyota Aygo:    BYD’s general manager, Xia Zhibing, has been quoted as saying, ‘The BYD F1 is a model developed by ourselves and we hold the intellectual property right for it.’
   I guess there’s no shame at BYD, and that the ideals of truthfulness in Confucianism haven’t made a return to parts of Red China.
   Come on, Mr Xia, the only contribution BYD has made to the 2007 photo is in Adobe Photoshop! If you are going to lie about it, don’t make it so obvious by using someone else’s publicity pic first! At least use CAD to generate something new!
   Or this could be some form of getting war reparations from Japan, but that Toyota hasn’t been informed.
   And this is the company that Warren Buffett has put money in to. Somehow I think that if any BYD cars ever make it to the US as Mr Buffett intends, Toyota’s going slap a big court order on them, and not a single one will make it on to the market.
   If you look at the F3 and F6, BYD’s larger models, the doors look identical to those of the Toyota Corolla E120 and Toyota Camry XV30, but the front- and rear-end styling has been modified to resemble some of Honda’s work. I understand the dimensions are slightly different but that an expert should be able to prove objective similarity in the shapes of the doors—or enough to stop BYDs from going on sale in many markets.
   The F3 hybrid, the world’s first plug-in car, beating Chevrolet with its Volt, might have an innovative powertrain, but what is the likelihood that has come from somewhere else?
   BYD shows how out of touch parts of Red Chinese commerce is with, well, honesty and decency. I’m happy to deal with mainland Chinese firms, but only those that I am connected to by blood or referred to by family—and governments should not be signing things like free-trade agreements with the Politburo in Beijing till some of these intellectual property issues can be sorted out.
   New Zealand, of course, is a trifle too naïve, with its free-trade agreement.

Odd things from the last few weeks, taken on the old phone.
   First up: if you need to understand what penguins say, someone has seen fit to compile a dictionary (note the space between Penguin and English acting as a divide):

   Secondly, I thought this was a nice slogan, though shame about the missing apostrophe: I understand Debra Messing uses the same slogan.
   Finally, Get Funk’d, a hair salon that came up with a blackboard message I photographed last year, has another one. I am told these are from Ollie, one of its employees and the salon’s second-in-command: You can’t see the car clearly in my shot, but Ollie has drawn the Pontiac Trans Am from the original Knight Rider series and not the Ford Mustang Shelby.

When I think about it, these cars propelled Japan to lofty heights. Never mind where they are now, and I realize some of the cars they bearing these names were boring econoboxes. From Autocade.

Honda Civic. 1972–9 (prod. unknown). 2-, 3-, 4- and 5-door sedan, 5-door wagon. F/F, 1169, 1237, 1488 cm³ (4 cyl. OHC). World-beating small car, developed in record two years. Named denoted car’s relevance to citizens and cities. Revolutionary in its day, when hatchbacks were largely unknown. Initially 680 kg weight; 2200 mm wheelbase. Styling based around trapezoidal form. Independent strut suspension all-round, setting template for future Honda models and ensuring excellent handling. Answered demand among Japan’s growing, affluent middle class for more sophisticated cars, exported just as fuel crisis hit in 1973. Two-door saloon first in July 1972; three-door hatch in September. Automatic and CVCC in 1973; four-door at end of year with 2280 mm wheelbase. Twin-carb Civic RS in 1974 along with commercial van and station wagon (also longer wheelbase). Minor facelift in 1977. Some rust issues, though this never affected Honda’s reputation in the way it did with Alfa Romeo and Lancia this decade.

Toyota Corolla (E10). 1966–70 (prod. 1,170,000 approx.). 2- and 4-door sedan, 2-door coupé, 3-door wagon. F/R, 1077, 1166 cm³ (4 cyl. OHV). The car that kicked it off. Toyota spotted room for a small car as the Japanese middle class grew. Very conventional, drum brakes initially, front discs later. Perhaps established the idea for the Corolla line that basic motoring sells—it need not be the latest technology—but how that appealed to a global market. Aimed at export, toward a ‘general user’. Some creature comforts such as cigarette lighter, reclining seats, two-speed wipers. Four-door and wagon added May 1967. Coupé, from April 1968, sold as Sprinter in some markets—Sprinter line had not split from Corolla line at this point. Larger engine from 1970.

Honda Accord. 1976–81 (prod. unknown). 3- and 4-door sedan. F/F, 1602, 1751 cm³ (4 cyl. OHC). Honda ups the game with well engineered and attractive mid-sized car (compact by US standards). Dynamically excellent compared with others of the era (Renault 18, Ford Taunus II) and established Honda as a company that could do more than tiny hatchbacks such as the Civic. Well specified in typical Japanese fashion. Some rustproofing issues.

Bob the Builder isn’t the only one who used ‘Yes we can’ to great effect nearly a decade before the New Hampshire concession speech of the current US president. Here’s a sticker that’s coming off an old Toyota imported from Geelong in Victoria, Australia that Lucire head designer Tanya spotted today as we headed to the first anniversary Vista Group lunch:

I don’t recall reading about this in Sir Roger Moore’s autobiography, though I did read a news report on it in 1983:

James Bond’s choice is not an Aston Martin or a Lotus Esprit, but a Toyota Corona.
   The idea was that SPECTRE agents would be bored to death when they were locked inside the interior. And as Japanese cars are generally well made, it would ensure that Mr Bigglesworth, the cat, could not claw his way out through gaps in the panels.

A few interesting things to note about cars in India.
   The Hindustan Ambassador is still plentiful in number. Though outwardly identical to the Morris Oxford of the 1950s, it is regarded as India’s first national car, rather than the Tata Indica. Cab drivers and government types prefer Ambis, and the big shots have white Ambis with a light on the top of the leading edge of the roof.
   A few of my hosts and friends knew of the Premier Padmini when I brought up the topic, but young people did not. I only saw two in my time there, one in Indore and one in New Delhi. They tell me they are more plentiful in Bombay—the majority of Indians I met referred to their southern city by this name, not Mumbai.
   The Hindustan Contessa, Premier 118 NE and the Standard 2000 were flops, so there was no surprise that they were totally unseen during my time there.
   Maruti is the market leader, and there are 800s everywhere. Maruti is expanding its line-up: the Swift DZire (four-door Swift) and SX4 sedan being newer entrants, appealing to Indians who like the size. DZire is doing well, despite a silly name; in Indore, SX4 taxicabs regularly ferried me twice. The regular Swift hatchback is also sold there, but it’s still the 800 that pushes the Maruti–Suzuki name. I was saddened to see the demise of the Maruti symbol, however, on the latest models, in favour of the Suzuki S.
   From my brief time there, it’s fairly safe to say that very, very few Sipanis and Standard Heralds and Gazels have survived. I saw none.
   I saw only two Tata Indica Vistas, or V3s.
   It took till my second day to see a Tata Indigo Marina. The Tata cars are popular but regarded by the locals more as a car produced by a truck manufacturer and not as refined as Japanese brands—although many of the Japanese and Korean brands are actually made by Indians and have quality equal to, if not better than, what emerges from Japan and Korea.
   There are a lot of Tata Indicas and Indigos.
   There are numerous Mahindra Scorpios and Tata Safaris, as some Indians go for SUVs. Let’s hope this trend doesn’t last. We should be copying them with their subcompact cars, not the other way around.
   Hyundai is growing like crazy and the i20 is a big deal, though it was too soon after the launch to spot any on the roads. However, there are plenty of i10s, which are made in India for the world market.
   Honda is considered a premium make, and the City (Fit Aria) is a big seller. The latest model is advertised on billboards around Gurgaon, and I managed to see one of these. Civics are considered quite upscale, especially considering India receives the fancy Thai-made sedan. The Accord is very flash.
   Both Hyundai and Honda are arguably in a better position than Honda, which began its market assault on India with the Innova, a utility vehicle that some taxi drivers adopted. It has been harder for Toyota to establish a name for itself as a manufacturer of passenger cars. The Corolla Altis (E120) is gaining ground, but not as successfully as one might think.
   GM is very thin on the ground. Daewoos are rebadged as Chevrolets, and there are a few Matizes, Kaloses and Lacettis around, with other model names. Of earlier efforts, there are some four-door (booted) Opel Corsas about, but not many. Fiat also failed: I saw one Uno, and a handful of Palios. One expected better from this master of small cars.
   Of American brands, Ford is doing an incredible job and its Ikon and Fiesta models seem to have done very well, certainly better than Toyota. The Fiesta is more advanced than any compact that Ford sells in the US.
   As in Roma, there is a sense of rhythm to driving in India. Appearing chaotic at first glance, the road rules make some sense if you drive, or are driven, for long enough. I am actually game to give it a shot.

Thanks to Vox and Firefox hating each other, I lost another post. I must have lost about four or five since I switched browsers. I don’t think the browser is compatible: you can’t undo things when you have accidentally pasted some extra code in. It’s also very difficult to resize photographs using the floating menu provided by Vox: if you click on it, sometimes a whole new page loads inside the editing window!
   So, this post has no original introduction, just this rant. And the stuff I copied and pasted from Autocade below. I’ll leave it to you to figure out what I originally wrote.

Toyota Corolla (E70). 1979–87 (prod. 3,500,000 approx. in Japan). 2- and 4-door sedan, 3-door van, 5-door station wagon, 2-door coupé, 3-door fastback coupé, 3-door hatchback coupé. F/R, 1290, 1495, 1770 cm³ (4 cyl. OHV), 1490, 1587 cm³ (4 cyl. OHC), 1587 cm³ (4 cyl. DOHC). Boxy Toyota for the 1980s looks modern but hides pretty much the same as before: front-engined, rear-wheel drive. And not the safest, if contemporary US tests are to be believed. Available in a variety of models and tidily styled, but a demonstration of the car as a domestic appliance in most cases. Behind the times once archrival Nissan released its front-drive Sunny for 1981. Van and station wagon built into E80 era with slanted grille; facelifted rear-drive sedans even built in Australia into 1987.

Toyota Carina (A40). 1977–81 (prod. unknown). 4-door sedan, 5-door wagon. F/R, 1588, 1770 cm³ (4 cyl. OHV), 1972 cm³ (4 cyl. OHC), 1968 cm³ (4 cyl. DOHC). Bread-and-butter Japanese family car, sharing platform with Celica and Corona. Positioned between Corolla and Corona in most markets. Mid-term facelift 1979. Fuel injection added for 1·8; Carina GT with two-litre DOHC. Formed the basis of the Toyota Celica Camry.

Toyota Celica Camry (A40/A50). 1980–2 (prod. 100,000 approx. sold). 4-door sedan. F/R, 1588, 1770 cm³ (4 cyl. OHV), 1968 cm³ (4 cyl. DOHC). Toyota cuts a market niche by putting Celica-like grille on to Carina, calling it Celica Camry. Same wheelbase, front overhang longer. Basic OHV engines shared with Carina, slightly improved specification. DOHC introduced later. First car to bear the Camry name.

Toyota Corona (T130). 1978–83 (prod. unknown). 4- and 5-door sedan, 2-door coupé, 5-door wagon. F/R, 1588, 1770, 1892 cm³ (4 cyl. OHV), 1968, 1972, 2188 cm³ (4 cyl. OHC). Boxier, larger Corona for 1978, introducing a five-door liftback model. Usual Japanese value-for-money but dull motoring. Australia had 1·9-litre powerplant from Holden, sharing engine with Holden Sunbird (UC) of these years. GT in Japan with 1968 cm³ engine with fuel injection. Japanese production ceased 1982; continued to be built in Australia till 1983. Largest 2·2-litre powerplant for US models.

My friend Tanya took this of the two Toyota Prius taxis that we were behind last month. I had blogged about it earlier. This is a better shot, taken on a proper digital camera.