Toyota to develop $5000 car
November 12, 2008 by George Skentzos
Toyota is set to enter the cheap-car race with new reports suggesting a $5000 car has been scheduled for development.
Ultra-budget cars are in high demand in booming emerging markets such as India and Brazil, with Nissan-Renault developing a similar offering whilst Tata has already showcased the Nano.
The car will be developed with its small-car subsidiary Daihatsu, with production planned for 2015 in Bangalore, India.
According to recent reports, Toyota will release the car under a new fourth brand to segregate the downmarket image from its current sub-brands, Lexus and Scion.
Toyota is also planning to build another production facility in India by 2010 to accompany the current Bangalore plant – increasing its annual production capacity by 100,000 vehicles.
General Motors has also shown interest in competing with the Nano earlier this year, with GM Vice Chairman of global product development, Bob Lutz indicating that GM would be working on a “parallel” products program which will run independent of it’s current global vehicle lineup.
Print it: 
Thought they already had a $5000.00 car the Yaris.
Just that some people are silly enough to pay 25 k for one.LOL.imo.
Oh what a feeling…. 5 grand of crap.
Seriously if Toyota or anyone else for that matter can produce a “Car” for 5k this must make what they charge for their other vehicles a stretch even taking into account the smaller amount of materials required.
After all a small capacity 3 cylinder car engine can’t be that much cheaper to manufacture than a large six.
Likewise with every other component.
They’ll make doors, extra seats and brakes an optional extra to help keep costs low.
That justifies their other cars’ cost of manufacture too =p
This would make the TRD Aurion a more viable proposition.$5000 drive away
Maybe the new brand will be called “Toymota”.
Either that or it will be $5K in India only, subsidised by the inflated prices paid in the rest of the world.
These ‘underdeveloped’ nations don’t have the same vehicle requirements as we do here in Australia, so they can get away with no seatbelts, air bags, rear brakes – even seats – in order to keep costs down.
Realcars you are so right LOL…yaris belongs somewhere around 5K or less mark.
I always thought they should have knocked $30k off the price of the Camry :D
As usual the the anti-toyota brigade are at it.
At least when this brand is created Kia drivers finally have something to look down at. What do you think realcars?
Well this is great for these nations with high population densities and low incomes. A cheap car to buy and run, something in their price range. My only concern is that they have to sell alot of them to make any sort of profit. Now with 4 or 5 companies competing in this market margins will be tough. My experience in these countries is that the wealthy buy imported cars, the poor only dream of owning a car and the middle class use public transport.
Someone might actually buy a TRD Aurion at $5K…
Sorry to see so many knockers jumping in to criticize Toyota for daring to consider a return to the fundamentals. If it was a $5000 motor cycle they’d probably still be critical because it wouldn’t fit in with their fantasies of over weight, over performed, over featured, over priced, over thirsty motor vehicles. What about the people that simply want personal, affordable, sustainable, responsible urban transportation, not recreation, not self-image enhancement, not bling, not self abuse. Bravo Toyota, deal me in!
LloydS,
your tune might change when you see what the vehicle is that you get for 5K.
the Nano has smaller wheels than my wheel barrow.
if you desire to commute in such an unsafe way crammed like a sardine, then good for you.
the toyota fans slam the falcon for not having Xenons as standard fitment, yet they see this as fit for them?????
these very same toyota fans slam the barina for grabbing 2 safety stars (previous model), yet see this as safe enough to commute in.
even toyota are ashamed to call it a “toyota”
enough said in that
and how many years had the commodore copped it over A/C not being standard???
at least it was an option
Nah its called the Charade – which I think is Japanese for Aluminium Can….
As for the anti-Toyota brigade – huh…. I’d say at least the majority of us Toyota knockers have either owned or driven a toyota for a considerable period of time whereas I doubt very few of the Toyo-philes on here would have ever driven a Ford or Holden..
Yes I realise there aren’t that many Toyota fans on here.
Nonetheless Before making such comments I suggest the Toyo-philes drive a Ford Holden from the 60s 80s n Now. Then they will be able to see how much Ford and Holden have improved their product in terms of design performance/handling and features etc
I for one have driven several Toyota’s from different periods including an 80s Corona; an Aurion as well as an old and a new corolla.. and whilst yes the engineering has improved.. there are so many other areas where they just aren’t as good as their rivals are now
Which is I say that whereas the decision to buy a Toyota [Landcruiser or Corolla for example] was once a “no brainer” – now you would have to ask why given that there are so many better options – particularly in terms of value for money.
Which is quite considerable when you bear in mind the amount of money and access high tech resources Toyota has compared to its rivals such as Ford and Holden.
I don’t necessarily HATE Toyota but the reasons I have listed help to explain why I personally prefer Holden.. the holier than thou attitude of their [control freak] fans is another
And Tomas79 – I believe that [if its okay with you] I am entilted to talk about Toyotas given that if I’m not mistaken; this particular article is to do with Toyota.\ That is I haven’t mentioned Toyotas inorder to try and change the subject.
which is something I have never done but one of your former allies on this site did quite regularly..
I’d take a $5k toyota over a $5k Nano.
The main reason why Toyota has decide to come up with a different brand name is because this way it allows it to develop a cheaper car which does not have to meet all of Toyota’s reliability and quality attributes that the brand is currently associated with.
I can imagine it now…
Aluminium foil supported by toothpicks and toothbrushes.
Glad wraps for windscreen
Rusty old pots and pans as wheels lined with balloons for tyres. The pots with holes in the middle will double up as steering wheel.
Will be made in the 400 ABC Learning Centres that are unprofitable to keep them ‘viable’.
Cmon Toyota, go back to your core competency and FIX IT! Make the Camry as good as Accord Euro and the 6. Meantime, how about making Corollas look as if it were purposely designed and fit standard ESPs? If you want %5000 cars, just come to Australia and repurchase all those year old fleet Camrys you dumped here.
I thought they already had in the Camry.
They just choose to sell it to the suckers for allot more.
Andy, be carefull what you wish for with ESP in the corolla. Toyota have proven in the topsy turvy kluger and camry/aurion that ESP is not neccessarily a good thing.
This is probably why Toyota is currently sitting near/at the top of the motor industry (in respect of sales). They are willing to enter as many categories/classes so as to spread their investment risk. A lot like buying shares, I guess.
Great news! Affordable cars = more car ownership in less affluent countries with bigger populations = increased demand on fuel, so those poor OPEC countries wont go without their revenue. Just what we needed to get people off public transport and back onto the roads where they belonged! Might give global warming a little nudge along as well, though I doubt that it needed much help. Onya, Toyota!
Yes I agree Roflomatic.lOL
Whatever u pay for a Toyota is always too much.LOL
Who’s looking down now eh?
Kia Grand Carnival(lame name) best choice in the worst segment.LOL.
roflomatic is a cheap shot.Isn’t enough that I drive a people mover.LOL.
Reality – Toyota have a car in almost every sector of the market [or as many as they can] which whilst it reduces risk it can also lead to a decline in the level of build quality or safety and an increase increase mechanical problems etc
Because whereas Toyotas main focus was on the Corolla and the Landcruiser [for example] – 2 cars which used to be so far ahead of the competition that buying one was a no brainer.
Toyota have/are now entering new markets trying to compete against more established more prestigious luxurious makes/models,.. markets which they don’t really have that much experience in and don’t know what the customers expectations are etc.
As they are finding out in F1 it takes a lot of money and time to try and beat the more established teams/brands
People say that Toyota are skilled at reading the market trends and what people want but it can also be said that [by entering so many markets] they are telling customers what they want – and what they want is a Toyota.. and that’s not a good idea
However; Toyota seem to think because they were so dominant in the 4×4 and Hatch back market that they will be just as dominant in the Large RWD sedan Market; The Luxury Sedan Market, the Utility Market… and that’s not always the case – infact thats sheer arrogance.
An arrogance which is also shown by the few fans on this site as they are unwilling/unable to admit that Toyota’s build quality etc isn’t that good and that Toyota do have problems as well as recalls.
Sure Toyota may be the overall market leader but they’re spending up big trying to be the leader n every market sector and that could be their undoing.
The corolla WAS a good car as WAS the Landcruiser – yet as Toyotas focus was elsewhere [F1] the competition has caught up – in terms of build quality etc.. and a number of cases surpassed the once great offering from Toyota
Because Toyota has essentially lost focus of their “bread and butter markets and the cars on which their reputation was based.. and have decided to try and be everything to everyone by increasing its range; introducing new cars and in some cases offer cars that are so similar in size specifications etc that they are virtually competing against other Toyota’s
GM did the same as they had a number of similar sized Pick Ups in the USA not to mention a number of factories in the USA all building the same cars and all operating at less than 70% capacity – which is one reason why they lost money.. If Toyota keep heading the way they are a similar thing is likely to happen to them.
pious Says:
November 13th, 2008 at 8:05 am
Great news! Affordable cars
You and I agree that much it’s frightening…….
My biggest concern is that we here in Australia are being told that we are the worst Polluters per head of capiter, and Now the only manufacturer who hasn’t decided to greatly reduce it’s product rates in a declining global market is going to supply an inferior engineered (yes I have looked at the Nano for real) to mass supply a country that doesn’t care about the earth. Toyota is THE GREEN car company isn’t it MR07 & Co???
Secondly a cheap shot for the Toyotapkile to fume over….
Again another example of Toyota not being able to lead, they prove that they can only follow the example set out by others…. and of coarse it is years behind in getting to market as that market is already showing signs of entering melt down….Haven’t India’s manufacturers just asked for Government assistance????? (Sorry Guys;-))
Another cheap shot, but didn’t Ford, Holden and (dare I say it?) Valiant all have $5,000 robust vehilces built for the masses? Didn’t they also save on dollars by not offering Stereo’s Air cond Power anything? Didn’t they also have motors that had absolutely no respect for the enviroment and safety equipement consisted of a large pedal beside the accelerator so the driver could brace themself? Weren’t these cars lnown as HQ’s XA’s & VC’s? hmmm Toyota has gone completely retro and is taking us back to the 70’s……………….
all you guys who say there are better alternitaves to a Yaris and Corolla, Maybe there are.
But the fact will remain , If you want a car that you know will still be going strong in 10, 15 or even 20 years. Get a Toyota.
I owned a Aussie built 89 camry for 4 years, I only got rid of it 2 years ago, it was the best car i have ever owned, went hard and never broke down.
OK. so that is 5000 US$
+ crap Aussie Dollar
+ Federal Governnment taxes
+ State Government taxes
+ Dealer on-roads
= AU$25000
So tell me again what is special about this ‘car’?
pious/Frontman -
Don’t you guys think you’re being pretty hypocritical?
If you say more car ownership is bad, then shouldn’t you guys abandon your cars too? Or is it your right to own one because you can cough up the $20k+ to buy one? Or that because we have a smaller population that means we’re entitled to a car?
Gee Gavin, I had an ‘89 Camry too, a white auto. Biggest piece of non-descript rubbish I have ever owned. It ended a long string of Toyotas and the last one that I will own for a long time.
Mike, yes I am a terrible hypocrite. Dont bust a boiler, but I drive a V8! The issue is, however, that these $5,000 cars are making it affordable for millions of people to drive, who would ordinarily take public transport. Think of the second hand price of one…$2,000, $3,000 maybe? Make no mistake, this is a real problem. The sheer volume of extra cars on the road make it so. 15 years ago barely anyone in China drove, now enormous numbers of people do, creating a huge demand for oil just to supply it. Now there is India. I can be a hypocrite, but still plant my foot a little, cant I?
hey, we hav to support more car ownership in developing countries coz who do you fellas think is gonna supply therm fuel? Not the middle east for alot longer coz they’re drying up…its gonna be us and Canada with our Gas to Liquid or Coal to Liquid plants! Get ready to buy Aussie shares in those plants within 4 years when the Nano actually gets made and if Toyota builds this abomination. Today’s boom will be nothing!
Latest Toyota news:
“With Toyota suffering nearly an 8% downturn in sales, and more ships arriving carrying more new cars almost daily, Toyota has taken the unusual step of asking fleet buyers, including State Governments, to consider forward orders and accept deliveries now. It seems that Toyota has run out of storage for it’s excess stock.”
I haven’t owned enough cars to make informed judgments of the reliability of particular makes and models of cars. It is for that reason that I have NEVER ever criticised the build quality of any manufactures.
In a similar vein, I have NEVER criticised any car manufacturers unless the statement could be substantiated by fact as opposed to mere opinion.
Wheelnut, given I was the only person defending Toyota before your first post, I assume you are referring to me as Thomas79 but I assure you that I am not that person.
I have friends who drive all sorts of cars; focus xr5 turbos, wrx’s, integras etc. I can say that they are all excellent cars.
What I can’t stand, is when people take it as their prerogative to criticise Toyota for any reason possible.
In this case, Toyota is taking steps to be one of the big auto companies to expand in the emerging market of india. Frontman, I don’t see how this can be seen as following other’s examples since the only real contenders for budget cars in India is an indian organisation. What I will be happy to bet on, is that Toyota will not be the last company to try this. One or more of the other major players, perhaps Hyundai, will follow suit.
Surely you guys can’t deny that had this article been amended to replace “Toyota” with “VW/Honda/Nissan/Ford/Hyundai” there would far less derogatory comments.
Pious, whilst I agree that the effect of these sub-budget cars being sold in India may adversly impact climate change and petrol prices, to imply that Indian people should have any less right to vehicular transport than you and I, for the sake of keeping petrol prices low is borderline racist.
Realcars I apologize for the remark above, it was out of line.
pious, yes I too think it’s a terrible idea, but you can’t have car ownership and yet deny other people the privilege of owning one on the argument that ‘too bad, you’re gonna create too much pollution and use too much oil’.
Hypocrite and racist, eh? Strewth I am an unpleasant person! I think that you will find that I am not suggesting that anyone has any lesser right to a car, rather recognising that the mere fact that there will be an exponentially larger use of cars by making them cheaper is a mass market, is an environmental disaster, with attendant pressure on the existing oil supply controlled essentially by OPEC countries. If Australia had 200 million white people with limited car ownership and the $5,000 car was introduced I would make exactly the same observation. The upside, I suppose, is that there might be more demand on our raw materials.
Pious,
i pretty much agree,
but it goes further than that as these cars would be disposible.
forget having that dent fixed in the bonnet or guard because it would easily rack up 2-3K because it would have to be fixed by a reputible repairer.
it would be like a switch breaking on a $30 power drill. just throw it out.
whereas if your switch broke on your much better $400 makita drill, you could justify spending $30 bucks on it to have the switch fixed
so it will be landfill city for these “Nano style” cars
Brett
My Camry was a brown manual , it was quick and handled great.
I also used to rally several ke corolla’s and i can tell you they were bulletproof.
Gavin, the only thing quick about the Camry was how quick it had problems. How anyone can describe an 89 Camry as “hadling” in any sence other than poor is very misguided.
‘89 camry: slow, thirsty, unreliable wallowing pig
(although it did handle better than a Camira LOL)
Oh.. and agreed on some of teh older corollas. We had one that was great, until the engine spat itself @176,000km – the most reliable Toyota I ever had.
We also had one of the last 2.4L Coronas: evil handler but quick in a staight line. It did over 220,000 km but did have numerous problems.
Roflomatic no offence was taken.
Owned lots of cars new and secondhand Toyota and others and from my experience Toyota reliability is no better or worse than anything else I’ve owned. Time and mileage takes it’s toll on all cars and anyone that tells you they’ve put astronomical mileage on a Toyota without putting a spanner to it is either a liar, a bull shit artist or very, very lucky.
Wheelnut – My uncle owned a Corolla and it went for 15 years with little to fault. Is he arrogant now in telling his friends that his car is reliable? Talk too much crap.
The same can be said about any car brand. I have friends who tell me their Commodores are more reliable than Falcon’s and swear by it. In your books, nothing is wrong with that.
Your whole argument is full of baseless rubbish and conjecture. Start with some facts first and you might appear to be more credible in what you say.
Spam word Toyota (it had to catch me soon;-))
Roflm…, It’s not that Toyota is doing it, it’s just the way their press machine blurts it out as if it’s a miracle. THat’s why again I listed them as followers.
If they turned around and said they were going to be Biodiesel Hybrids for the masses, I would be shouting their applause form the roof tops. Instead (border line to being out of line) they are showing signs of the Japanese whaling industry (sorry research) by pursuing a market with inferior enviromental controls. Don’t worry I voiced the exact same concerns when the news of the NANO first came out. My concerns would be voiced the same even if my beloved VWAG did the same thing.
As for the borderline racist, how about the fact that you and I and everyone in the developed world is being forced to curb our lifestyle and it’s indulgances in an effort to reduce the Toxic outpouring we have placed upon the earth, and yet we are supposed to accept Multinational corporations allowing the developing countries to make the exact same mistake. Would it not be a better plan to get these developing countries to skip the mistakes we made and go straight for the green? You kind of make India the Green Transport capitol of the world?? That would make me cheer for any Automotive company and would convert me to their product.
To those arguing reliability, if you have not owned more than one example of a vehicle from new then how can you honestly pass any sor of “qualified judgement” on a whole brand? I have owned three Alfa’s two of which were pearlers, one was a complete dog. All second hand, the good ones were one owner fanatics cars, the other was a two owner badge buyers car. Different upbringings hence the diiferent outcomes.
Frontman, the argument you advanced has much merit in areas such as power generation, however I think you should not jump to such a conclusion in relation to cars.
I think these cars would use less fuel not because their mechanics are more efficient, but simply because the lack of safety features and other “luxuries” means they probably weigh only half a tonne each.
So in that sense, they are in fact more green.
However if the specifications prove that they use more fuel then of course I’m wrong.
Roflmatic – No; I know that You and Tomas79 are 2 different people. because you are much more open to constructive criticism about Toyota than he is. Not to mention that you have also had positive things to say about other makes including Ford and Holden – and then of course theres D—O
Bret – It wouldn’t surprise me if Toyota are in fact doing that.. getting state gummint and other fleet buyers to accept advanced orders as then they can technically be regarded as a sale thereby maintain their overall lead – proving that the VFACTS sales figures can be manipulated just like the surveys that Toyotas fans refer to all the time