Why are Japanese Manufacturers so conservative ?

[S3000]

Let see..
Honda : nothing really fast in the program.. butter and bread cars.

Toyota: the same thing but more dull.

Mazda: the Mps is somehow fast, but the design is so ugly; nothing exciting.

Subaru: STI who havent changed something special in 10 years ? Except more problems with the 2.5 L engine.
And the 4 step automatic gear box in the Forester is prehistoricly outdated.

Mitsubishi: Evo X is heavier and slower than the previous generation, while the competion caught up and passed them.

And then there are Lexus and Nissan, well they have something special on their programm but japanese cars are overall conservative and dull.

[ludicrous speed]

I think that's a little unfair, really the japs have been untouchable when it comes to fun cars at an affordable price. At the moment the gtr is one of the hottest cars for the price and once the economy picks up I think we'll see some more exciting stuff from japan.

[iphonedyou]

Yeah to be fair, I always thought of the Japanese as purveyors of affordable fun.

Still do, really. Though Honda seem to have lost the plot now, sadly

[Negative Creep]

There's a lot of great and interesting Jap stuff that never reaches these shores. Also, if you look at the UK lineup of Vauxhall, Ford, VW etc it's hardly brimming with dynamic, envelope pushing cars is it?

[havoc]

Conservative in what way? You mean "they're not making anything I find fun and interesting right now" - which is to say inefficient 2-seat sports cars or ballistic turbo-nutter machines, presumably?!?


Well, funnily enough, 4 years ago the global economy tanked and most pundits don't see it recovering that quickly. So 'discretionary spending' by the affluent middle classes (as opposed to the truly rich) has dropped quicker than Vanessa Feltz off Beachy Head...so as a car maker why WOULD you invest heavily in a radical mid-range sports car?!?


That said:-
- Honda are one of the world-leaders in fuel-cells, and have so far made the only road-legal ones, albeit at $1m a pop and lease-only in IIRC California.
- Toyota are releasing a whole family of hybrids, well in advance of all US/EU manufacturers.
- Nissan have released one of the first (and arguably the first sensible) all-electric cars onto the EU market.

...so I'd say they can be very creative and revolutionary!

[Olivera]

A bit harsh, they are far less conservative than say Ford Europe or Vauxhall.

Toyota - They are launching the FT-86. Lexus side of the company has the ISF and LFA.
Nissan - 350Z then 370Z. Nissan GTR.
Mazda - MX5 and RX8.

However Honda in a particular seem to have truly lost the plot. No longer make the NSX, S2000 or even a Type R civic.

[diddly69]

Olivera said:

A bit harsh, they are far less conservative than say Ford Europe or Vauxhall.

Toyota - They are launching the FT-86. Lexus side of the company has the ISF and LFA.
Nissan - 350Z then 370Z. Nissan GTR.

Mazda - MX5 and RX8.

However Honda in a particular seem to have truly lost the plot. No longer make the NSX, S2000 or even a Type R civic.

I agree! Nothing to do with performance
but the CRZ does look effortlessly cool

[blearyeyedboy]

diddly69 said:

I agree! Nothing to do with performance
but the CRZ does look effortlessly cool

I'm still trying to decide if I like its looks or not!

But I think the Japs are pulling their weight in terms of exciting motors. Lexus LFA? RX8? Nissan GT-R? 370Z? FT86? I think there's enough there to keep faith in the Far Eastern boys and girls.

[dtmpower]

I think the financial climate in Japan and in their major export markets has a lot to do with your question. I was surprised to see Nissan release the R35 GTR to be honest, only due to the fact it's so good for the money.

I don't think we'll see cars like the Supra be released in the future for the EU market.

[miniman]

And as the world continues to revolve, and Japanese supercars come and go, the answer remains...


MX-5

[S18DMW]

I'm just going to leave this here....

[iphonedyou]

havoc said:

Conservative in what way? You mean "they're not making anything I find fun and interesting right now" - which is to say inefficient 2-seat sports cars or ballistic turbo-nutter machines, presumably?!?


Well, funnily enough, 4 years ago the global economy tanked and most pundits don't see it recovering that quickly. So 'discretionary spending' by the affluent middle classes (as opposed to the truly rich) has dropped quicker than Vanessa Feltz off Beachy Head...so as a car maker why WOULD you invest heavily in a radical mid-range sports car?!?


That said:-
- Honda are one of the world-leaders in fuel-cells, and have so far made the only road-legal ones, albeit at $1m a pop and lease-only in IIRC California.
- Toyota are releasing a whole family of hybrids, well in advance of all US/EU manufacturers.
- Nissan have released one of the first (and arguably the first sensible) all-electric cars onto the EU market.

...so I'd say they can be very creative and revolutionary!

I read his post as referring solely to fast, interesting cars. I could be wrong, but I don't think he's really talking about efficient vehicles.

[RedWhiteMonkey]

S18DMW said:

I'm just going to leave this here....

The key word in that picture being "concept", will they ever actually built it?

[cptsideways]

RedWhiteMonkey said:

S18DMW said:

I'm just going to leave this here....

The key word in that picture being "concept", will they ever actually built it?

Release date is third quarter 2012, you can place an order at your local Toyota dealer for one now. I did three years ago!

[RedWhiteMonkey]

Have they given any idea on the final pricing structure for them, its a nice looking car.

[S18DMW]

£18-£20k mark apparently. The Subaru version will be more like £22-£25k.

[LukeSi]

It doesn't look like that anymore...




















It looks twice as mad now



Looks more like a concept than the concept.

[havoc]

iphonedyou said:

I read his post as referring solely to fast, interesting cars. I could be wrong, but I don't think he's really talking about efficient vehicles.

And I was trying to point out that his original premise was flawed by being too narrow in focus.

They're car COMPANIES - they're in it to make a profit, not to make 'halo' cars. The Japanese manufacturers, in the main, have decided that the best returns lie in pursuing the 'efficiency' market, not the sports-car market.

...and sadly I happen to agree with them.



By contrast, let's look at VW/Audi, at Fiat/Alfa, at PSA, at Vauxhall/Opel and at Ford (which are the larger 'mainstream' car makers as far as the European market goes. How many truly 'interesting' cars are they making at the moment:-
- R8
- The upcoming 4C
- RCZ is borderline interesting but is still a 200bhp car at best.
- ...and, erm...


You can't compare Honda with Porsche, or Toyota with BMW - they're very different types of company.