It's Hachi-Roku Thursday

by Bertel Schmitt

Updated: December 2nd, 2012 Published: February 2nd, 2012

I spent all day at the launch party of the Toyota FT/GT86/86/Scion FR-S/Subaru BRZ “new compact rear-wheel-drive sports car” at Makuhari Messe in Tokyo. Could have been Chiba already. I came back with so much information about Toyota’s new “honest sportscar” (as Akio Toyoda likes to call it) that I declare today Hachi-Roku Thursday.

Today, I will write about nothing else than Hachi-Roku, while the rest of the gang will serve you TTAC’s unusual fare of opinionated news, new opinion, old cars, fast women and rare guitars.

I shall be back after I have transcribed my tapes and developed my film. You will hear specs, prices, launch dates. You will learn why the grown-up son of the hachi-roku Chief Engineer has no driver’s license, and how this gave birth to a new idea. You will also hear why Akio Toyoda thinks that cars may become as relevant as horses, and why that’s o.k.

Stay tuned.

#BertelSchmitt #FT86 #Hachi-roku #Hachi-RokuThursday #Japan #Toyota

Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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2 of 16 comments

Geozinger on Feb 02, 2012

Today, I will write about nothing else than Hachi-Roku... And many thought the Camaro had a lot of hype. Thanks for the warning.

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Wstarvingteacher on Feb 02, 2012

You might supply an english translation. Had to read the whole article to find out what you were talking about.

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