Celica Redux

Frank Williams
by Frank Williams

You may recall that GM sold its stake in Subaru to… Toyota. Last spring's union between the two Japanese automakers is about to bear fruit. Motor Trend reveals that one of the first toys out of the Tubaru toy box will be a latter day reincarnation of the Toyota Celica. The new sports coupe will arrive both as a lower-priced rear-wheel-drive base model and a full-bore AWD model, complete with the Impreza STi's 300hp engine. The new Toybaru will be offered in two flavors: two-door coupe or three-door hatch. To keep the price duo-brand-compliant, the Subota will be a high-volume model; you can expect to see it in a number of markets including the U.S. GM may rue the day it threw Subie's shares into its cash conflagration.

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  • Kjc117 Kjc117 on Feb 04, 2008

    This is good news. Lets hope Toyota moves the engine further back behind the front wheels to eliminate some of the infamous Subaru understeer.

  • Johnster Johnster on Feb 04, 2008

    I can't imagine that a small sporty RWD Toyota would be any more dangerous than any number of other small sporty cars currently on the market. The Mini Cooper S, Honda Civic Si, Subaru WRX STi... If there is a spike in accidents in a small sporty RWD Toyota, as well as other small high-performance cars, then the insurance premiums for such cars will increase to the point that it affects the sales of such cars, just like happened with muscle and pony-cars back in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In this case the free market will sort it out.

  • Dean Dean on Feb 04, 2008

    Schwanz: Your argument is very weak, sir, on several counts. Porsche does not price the 911 to keep kids from buying it. Correlation /= causation. The 300HP version of this car will not be $21k. You also talk about the car as a loss leader. Both are a strawman arguments, and are not backed by anything resembling fact, even in the detail-deficient source article. I would expect it to sell for a price comparable to a 350Z or STi. I'm talking out of my ass too, but Toyota is not going to throw money down the drain - they will price the car to be competitive with other cars in the segment. From your argument, I would expect you to argue that motorcycles should not exist, or if they must, a Hayabusa should sell for north of $30k. For far less than your phantom $21k, your immature youth can buy a 500lb motorcycle with 200HP. I agree that inexperience and hyper-powerful motorcycles should not mix, but price is the last means with which I would attempt to solve that problem. Finally, let me re-iterate: price is a lousy way to intentionally keep inexperienced drivers out of high-performance cars. Yes it can have that effect, but that does not make it right.

  • Sanman111 Sanman111 on Feb 05, 2008

    I think this is a good move by toyota, but we'll see how the car is when it comes out. Logically, the car with rwd and 200hp should compete against the civic si and the v6 mustang in the 20-25k range, otherwise it will demolish scion tc sales. The awd 300 hp car will likely cost around 30k. As far as young drivers and accidents go, I don't think it will make a difference as mirrors of both models are readily available already (v6 mustang and the wrx sti). Frankly, teens in high powered cars will always be a problem and pricing isn't an issue. For most 18 year olds, 20k or 30k isn't in their grasp and those with rich parents will get one either way (if they can get an m5, they can get this).

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