New Toyota boss keen on racing
June 30, 2009 by Alborz Fallah
A collective sigh of relief for all car fans as the new president of Toyota Motor Corp., took over operations of the world’s biggest car maker last week.
The grandson of the original Toyota founder, the new president has plans to reform the Big T quickly. However, there is an interesting issue. Mr Toyoda loves racing yet many want him safe and sound out of the drivers seat.
Our own Anthony Crawford recently saw the 53 year old compete at the 24-hour endurance race on Germany’s highly respected and dangerous Nurburgring track. Making it his third appearance in a row.
Leading Japan’s biggest company and racing at such high level is a big risk issue. Some inside Toyota are worried that any accident or injury for Mr Toyoda could cause problems for the company.
The new boss was recently asked if he would continue to race, but wouldn’t give a definite answer.
“The folks here are pleading with me to stop, but there’s a reason why I participate in these races. First, it’s because it’s Nurburgring. Second, it’s 24 hours. And third, it has a lot to do with the development of cars. Put another way, you can say that I’m staking my life to come up with a better product,” Toyoda said.
In another bit of good news, Mr Toyoda also runs his own blog, at Gazoo.com. A few years ago having met Aston Martin CEO Ulrich Bez, (Mr Bez racing at Nurburgring despite strong objections from his staff) one of his blog entries reads:
“It’s because there’s someone like this at the top that the company can come up with an emotional sports car like the Vantage. That was the feeling I got as an employee at a carmaker.”
It will be very interesting to see if Toyota can get its soul back now that it’s in the hands of a passionate car lover with a desire for speed!
Print it: 
Quote ” It will be very interesting to see if Toyota can get its soul back now that it’s in the hands of a passionate car lover with a desire for speed!”
Perhaps he needs to drag its board members down to the track with him .
Wow. Who’da thunkit? The same dude who runs the company that brings us the Camry is a hardcore race car driver. Kudos to him!
If he can give Toyota a bit of gumption then they will be all the better for it.
Good on him.
Well if he can really help out with the driving and gives a good name to them then well done to him and lets hope that this is a beneficial concept for Toyota
i really despise Toyota, but if they start making good cars ( ala Lexus) then i might just, just consider them.
Hey, he likes racing, but when (Formula 1) is he going to like WINNING?)
Great to see that BM is back, but why abandon the wonderful ‘dead heat in a Zeppelin race’ trademark in favour of a silly little ‘TM’ thingy?
All car makers should have a racer boss.Leave the bean counters to count beans.
Whilst a swashbuckling car racing buccaneer CEO is all fine, sadly, Toyota will need a lot more than that. They need a complete overhaul of the company philosophy which has seen it capable only of producing boring whitegoods in recent times – a philosophy of which Mr Toyoda has been an integral part. Personally I will not be holding my breath.
“flying high” don’t hold that breath to long! why overhaul a company that is world number1, still profitable in these tough times,and makes the best cars I DONT THINK SO!! Maybe gm took your advice!
If anyone know’s anything about the toyoda family this guy is like royalty, no wonder they want to protect him, good on him a real rebel with building the world’s best cars in his blood!
Its funny how many people here forget that Toyota DID have many sports/performance cars back in the 90s.
Yet today, people just relate them to Camry or Corolla…
Toyota is one of the best run companies in the world, and its the Camrys and Corollas that are great examples of this… 98% of car buyers buy cars for reliability, affordabiity, safety and low cost to run….
its only the 3% that really cares about the 0-100 figures, the hp/torque figures and all the other mumbo jumbo racing technology…
Toyota saw the massive market and boom… a decade later No.1 in the world.
Yes they sacrificed resources away from sports models etc, but it paid off…. they got bigger, richer and now… they can take more risks on sports cars because of the deep money reserves… Look at what a decade of dominance in sales brought… Toyota F1, more funding for LeMans… Lexus performance…. and soon… and I’ve said it a few times before on this site… wait a couple of years and you’ll see “sports” cars come out from Toyota again… Not just your normal sports cars that sells for 70K or 80K, Toyota doesnt see much potential with that market…. expect sports cars from around 35-45K…. so it can sell to MORE people and hence worth manufacturing.. because in the end, it has to be LOGICAL… not just for passion.
Toyoda-san is just the first step…how do I know? well, I just pay attention to all the small subtle moves in the japanese automotive industry, automotive world in Australia is like comparing the size of our Moon to Jupiter… tiny.
Lukaas ,the problem is people do remember when Toyota finally started to make cars we wanted in the 90s then they stopped!
Perhaps this guy can breath life back into it!
Toyota for the last decade has been about greed not passion!
Building cars for the masses doesnt mean they make the worlds best cars ,Im sure this guy will tell you that .
toyota made some good affordable sporty coupes earlier, however now its a different story… but having said that perhaps the reason why they have been so successful with their products is coz they have provided the market what people really wanted!! affordable reliable family cars ….
lets face it most sports cars hardly ever see the track! thats not to say that its not needed ….
good to see that Toyota will be back! perhaps a camry coupe? lol
BM stands for BIG MORON
Toyota better hurry up with that $35-40K sports coupe then Lukaass.
Because given the rave reviews that the [300Hp RWD V6] Hyundai Genesis coupe has been getting recently; not to mention the power and performance its got.. its going to have to be something really special.
Figjam. Saying that the Toyota makes the best cars is a ludicrous claim. Are you saying that if you won that 90M Ozlotto draw tonight you would be banging down the doors of your local Toyota dealer tomorrow to buy your next best car? By which stretch of the imagination can you make a claim they make the best cars.
Lets not go there actually because this site has done that conversation to death. Suffice to say that passion and excitement has not been part of the Toyota vocabulary for many many years.
Btw – in this happy snap, Mr Toyoda is standing next to a Lexus, which is not really a Toyota is it… ? I mean ask any Lexus owner…”nooooo, this is not a Toyota with a huge price tag… it is a Lexus”. Yeah mate.
Supra MKII……….
Wheelnut,
As well as Hyundai has improved, sorry the japanese giants still look at them as “bargain” competitors… yes, they do have little respect nowadays due to them breaking to the market and being established.
But a comment to the Hyundai Genesis, no doubt this car for Hyundai anyways, is very impressive. Seen it flesh metal and even seen the vehicle under the plastic panels and what not. But to be really honest, its still a Hyundai sports coupe, looks good and has good performance for value but its reputation is still up in the air… that the moment a Nissan, Toyota, Mazda, Honda releases a coupe similarly priced with similar performance…. it’ll be lose ANY advantages. Seriously… remember also, that the biggest market for sports cars are the second hand market and the after market tune parts and outside of the cheap china-rip offs, Hyundais have limited after market part support… as most are japanese based. Although, must one say that Hyundai’s support has increased.
Bottomline, Toyota releases a 40K “Celica” type coupe with RWD setup, 160HP (130kW) 225Nm Torque, 1200KG in weight.. that’ll sell a lot. Then you make a turbo-charged model for 47K~50K, and put 225HP (175~180KW) 340Nm Torque, 1200KG weight…. for the more performance based enthusiasts…. thats great value…. in comparison the 370Z is 75K drive away for 230kW, Mazda RX-8 has 180kW for 60K driveaway…. Subaru has the WRX for 45K drive away (not a coupe though)… the STi is at 72K driveaway… etc..
With the exception of the “family friendly” WRX, the others are over 60K in price tag and are lucky to sell 100 a month….here in Aus anyways…. the second hand market in the other hand is much more popular, as the young 30 somethings snatch them up at 60% original retail price.
If this recession didnt occur, the “sports” cars would be almost set for production sometime in 2011-2012… but no matter how passionate Toyota’s new President is… logic will prevail and will shelve them until when its best for release.
Look at Big Moron and Peanut’s comment’s votes LOL…
Btw, Peanut and Big Moron are the same person. They came to write at the same time and away at the same time. Maybe he/she should get a life…
FlyingHigh,
In Japan, they do not have Lexus brand, until recently… previously, Lexus branded models where sold there under Toyota brand.
oh the irony in the article heading…
In the 90s, Japan produced a whole bunch of “affordable” sport cars (MR2, Supra, RX7 FD, R33 & R34 GTRs, NSX, etc).
Practically 10 years have past since then, and we see a lot of those second hand cars on the road.
I think it is a good strategy on behalf of Toyota to shift their focus on affordable family oriented cars until new technology catches up – in terms of safety. That would be the ABS, stability control, electronic braking, etc….
Once we see that fast cars can be made safer, and of course with the rise of a driving cult movies such as F&F, transporter, etc… where the young and old are now more interested in fast cars, it is then logical for Toyota to make use of that opportunity to create new sports cars again.
Another Rubbish Ford Recall Says:
“Look at Big Moron and Peanut’s comment’s votes LOL…”
OK so a certain individual has been down to the local library and logged onto all of the different computers to post votes – doesn’t mean a thing.
BTW, why can’t that individual just use one name instaed of all of his aliases? Embarrased by all of his own B/S, that’s why.
Just to add on my post above, the cult also exploded with video games being more and more realistic and available to children.
Lukass – thanks – yes thats right. I was aware – however, so many are not aware it would seem. And this is true not only in Japan but in other parts of Asia too. At any rate you got a thumbs up from me.
Wonder if we will see Lexus in the V8 superbores and GT formula?
Despite the fact that AVESCO have announced that they are inviting other manufacturers to compete in Australia’s premier motorsport category [which they always have been].. I doubt we will ever see a Lexus or any other make of car in the V8s
Mainly because of the huge costs involved in setting up a workshop and a team to build and run 2 V8 race cars from scratch.
If Lexus BMW or whoever wants to compete they will have to buy out one of the existing teams which would involve huge payouts to Ford and Holden.
Then there’s the fact that AVESCO are also looking at reducing or capping costs.. for example each of the cars are to cost no more than $250K to build
Which means if Lexus start of with a $120K IS-F they only have $130K to buy or build the roll cage the engine the brakes the suspension etc…. Whereas HRT and FPV base their cars on a $40K car
Yes it may seem to be a bit restrictive or exclusive but as I have said before all forms of motorsport have criteria etc – all designed to ensure closer racing and focussing more on driver skill
Having said that the Lexus is eligible to compete in the GT-Production ["Showroom"] series.. so why don’t they?
peanut
push rod v8?no….LEXUS AND YOUR DINOSAURS are in different class and your v8 race is dying…..
Aahh correct me if I am wrong but doesn’t Toyota compete in NASCAR? and what engines do the NASCARs use? aren’t they Pushrod V8s?
Therefore; they could use a similar Toyota V8 Pushrod engine from NASCAR and just whack a Lexus Body on it couldn’t they?
Because just like NASCAR; V8SC is a “Silouhette series” – there is nothing in common with the production car apoart from the body shape
Yet If any motorsport category is “Dying” it would have to be F1 – Look at all the sh!t fighting going on at the moment between the teams and the organisers.. both of whom have an over inflated view of self importance – and ignoring the fans
Whereas V8 Supercars have evolved over the years and still offer close competitive racing which is what the [real] fans pay their hard earned to see.
I mean in F1 this season its a case of seeing who will come second to the “Virgins” – just like it was with Ferrari and Schumacher. the championship has virtually been decided half way through the season
well,why should Lexus and BMW lower their standards and race with your dinosaurs?their products are not for bogans.
Do you even know what the definition of a Bogan is…? Its not someone who drives around in a brand new $40K+ car – they usually drive second hand cars that are more than 10 years old [some with budget repairs and modifications etc]
I mean if you think that a Bogan is someone who owns a 40K car then that has to include those who drive new entry level BMWs and Mercs doesn’t it?
Because Bogans are not limited to just Ford and Holden; you also see them driving around in old smokey beaten up Euros and Japanese cars too.