Toyota Wakes Up From Its Product Hangover, Lets Loose In Vegas

by Derek Kreindler

Published: September 13th, 2012

Sergio & Co aren’t the only ones partying it up in Vegas. Toyota is hosting its own bachelor party in Sin City, complete with products like a new Avalon, RAV4, Scion tC and a next-generation Corolla described as

“…cool. It is hip, it is fun. It is everything that the consumer is not expecting in that segment.”

The Detroit News reports that the new products were unveiled at Toyota’s Las Vegas dealer meeting. The Avalon has already been revealed, while the RAV4 will apparently ditch its trademark tailgate mounted spare tire. While one dealer interviewed by the publication said “people are going to fall in love with this car — especially at that price point,” our own coverage and review of the Japanese market Corolla suggests otherwise.

#ScionTC #Toyota #ToyotaAvalon #ToyotaCorolla #ToyotaRav4

Derek Kreindler

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8 of 29 comments

PintoFan on Sep 13, 2012

"while the RAV4 will apparently ditch its trademark tailgate mounted spare tire." Hello obvious cost-cutting move. "Price point" is should also be setting off some alarm bells. The new Avalon, while doing a decent ripoff of the Fusion's front end design, is probably too aggressively styled for it's mostly senile customer base.

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- 84Cressida on Sep 13, 2012
  
  Fusion and Avalon were unveiled at the same time, Toyota didn't rip it off. And Toyota doesn't want that senile customer base anymore.
  
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- Spw on Sep 13, 2012
  
  @84Cressida i am interested if anyone can find more info from dealers conference... especially about rav4.
  
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Nrd515 on Sep 14, 2012

The day that Toyota or Honda, especially Honda, make cars that aren't rolling sleeping pills will probably be the day I die, and I'm just delusional in my final hours. They just make boring cars, and I don't expect that to change. The most exciting thing (to me) that Toyota makes now is the Tundra! And it's not earth shattering, even for a truck. Honda has nothing at all, never really has had anything slightly interesting.

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- Bikegoesbaa on Sep 14, 2012
  
  I think you may be the first person ever to describe the NSX and S2000 as not being even "slightly interesting".
  
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- Psarhjinian on Sep 14, 2012
  
  No manufacturer has an interesting car in most mainstream markets. That's why they're mainstream cars. Did you think the Malibu was exciting? The Fusion? How about the 200, 6 or Sonata? None of these are pulse-quickeners, nor have any of their antecedents been. Oh, sure, you might get a swoopy bit of styling and maybe a touch more power and/or steering feel, but we're talking about the difference between vanilla, french vanilla and creamy vanilla. Toyota just happened to realize, perhaps sooner and more truthfully than most, that exciting cars are often a distraction from the day-in/day-out business of making money and selling what people want to buy. Yes, GM builds the Corvette, but GM can't survive on Corvettes alone, and even Ferrari has FIAT and it's reams of (let's be honest, not that exciting) mainstream cars to bankroll it's dreams.
  
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Hifi on Sep 14, 2012

With the very rare exception of a couple of cars in the 80s and early 90s, Toyota has proven to only be good at building vanilla cars. Their attempts at being "Crazy and Wild" end up being a visual $350k disaster like the LFA. What do you expect Toyota and their shills to say? "We are excited to offer bland and unoriginal cars again this year!" Of course not.

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Dynasty on Sep 14, 2012

Why all the negativity about vanilla? It is the most popular flavor in the world. Followed by chocolate, and strawberry.

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