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: 
I just had a look on the net for the nano specifications, and fuel economy is around the 20km per litre mark.
Also interestingly, the nano is rwd :D
A born again Datsun 120Y and we all know what they were like, unsafe at any speed.
Part of my job is to “tear-apart” vehicles and study parts then design new ones…
I can honestly say there are a lot of quality traits that people here dont get to see.
All I can say without biased, dollar for dollar, Toyota parts are better quality.. again comparing to the same class. Honda are pretty good too, better in some aspects.
generally Japanese designed parts are better than american designed parts…. europeans are different that they have higher grade parts but are premium priced…
Performance wise, I have to say yes Toyota has been conservative, but thats what the market wants.
Figures dont lie…
Better alternatives ? yes I agree, in terms of features and performance, but you have to realize… for the $$$ you pay, someting is compromised…. quality/performance/features…. majority of the market dont buy performance cars, its a niche market…. features? well Toyota charges an arm and a leg for them, others have them standards… why? to have the advantage over Toyota…. then you have the other thing…
do I drive a toyota? yes, fantastic everyday car that you can rely on for years… heck I still have my early 90s MR2 turbo and I recently ordered replacement parts… took 18 years before it needed to be replaced… and 18 year old parts available!!
I have a weekend warrior in my 350Z, spent $5000 on Nismo kit and $3000 on Volk wheels… just to show that I am committed and aware of performance market… but my point is… Toyota, specifically for Australia… make the cars that sell…. why do you think they became No.1…. they rather make reliability option 1 and sacrifice performance… again its a niche market…
Do they charge excessively?? yes I agree, they charge premium dollars for features…. but they can because there are many who are willing to pay….
How would I know a “good” vehicle from a “crappy” one.. well as stated above, I work in the industry, design vehicles, we engineer them… fortunate enough to access different vehicles in a few countries (major ones) and dollar for dollar… toyotas are “pretty” good….
some can keep on hating, but it wont change the majority of the market’s point of view, it doesnt matter… your 0.001%….. insignificant really…
“”Mork calling Ork,come in Ork!”" Dont know about Ork but you’ll look a dork driving this,how much you think its going to cost to build it if its 5k to buy ? 2k ? Geez Ive spent more than that on a billet crankshaft for a Ford than the whole bloody car costs……… “Nano Nano ” Thats no thanks in Car lingo ………
RoFlmaTiC Says:
November 13th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Hey agreed, if they are some ingenious super low milage thing great!
But my thoughts are, if they can make a motor that can do that and be clean enough to pass Euro5 as well as have (being kind) at least 3* safety then why haven’t we seen them elsewhere?? Why will the IQ cost so much?
Given the Europeans acceptance of Micro cars surely this (even at $8,000) would be acceptable and a far more profitable and affluent market place. Me thinks the big savings are being made due to inferior engines and safety.
You know I’ll say it again, this is a much more informed and acceptable place to chat than the DRIVEl that goes on at another blog site.
(brown nosing) and the road reports aren’t as heavily biased…….. :-)
Frontman,
are you digging for a fuel voucher??? ha ha ha ha
I totally agree, but the world is already hung up on false economy. They will probably sell quite a few.
if they spent a bit more and went in at 8 Grand, it would still be half baked.
at least people might excuse it for only being worth 5K, and 5 Grands worth is all you will get
Brett. it actually had a 2L twin cam 3S-FE motor with just over 100kw the wheels and almost 200Nm with minimal mods (header and airbox only) and weighed 1200 kg.
You really can’t say thats slow.
All we need to really hope for is that the manufacturers don’t do a modern day Trabant!! They didn’t use much fuel, but what the did, the used poorly and pumped out a lot of fumes and Co2 etc. They had NO polution control at all :-(
I think Australia has a market place for $5,000 cars from any manufacturer, as we become more “Metro” the less we have the need for “big” cars. Environmentally and structurally (parking, traffic etc) it makes sense. As the article says
“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”.
Not too long ago CA published a thread about Melbourne commuters being encouraged to ride scooters in the city (please correct me if i am wrong) I know i would feel safer with a roof over my head, especially on a rainy day.
Shouldn’t we expect Australia to follow a similar trend in years to come?
Australia can’t get a 5K car as our ADR’s require way too much technology and expensive safety devices
Oh the car costs 5k I thought that 5′000 kms was all it will do before it falls apart or something.. My mistake
Yeah too right. Seems like they might raid the spare parts bin from Landcruiser for some real nasty bits (as if it could get worse)
Lol a used will be like 900 dollars sooo cheap =)
if we get their low standards in vehicles as well as the other imported cheap crap we get here already,
australia may as well file for 3rd world countryship
things like this in other countries will be like a step up, right here its a mega step down.
who is going to be the one to announce no power anything, no safety anything, no comfortable anything and stand proudly whilst doing it.
our cars are so well kitted here that people whinge like hell if a car doent get xenon light bulbs.
our tastes have risen to heights that wont tumble back too quickly.
it would be like taking cordials and soft drinks off the market.
Wait……….
Toyota is already selling these sort of vehicles
So what are the ADR requirements for a scooter, or motorbike? And in what ways is a cheap car different?