Tokyo Auto Salon: Japan Discovers New Growth Industry: Hachi Roku Customization
![Bertel Schmitt](https://cdn-fastly.thetruthaboutcars.com/media/profile/2022/07/20/32231_1.jpg?size=91x91)
Toyota’s Akio Toyoda never stops warning about the hollowing out of Japan’s industry. Today at the Tokyo Auto Salon, Toyoda gave a spirited speech praising the virtues of customization of the hachi-roku, Toyota’s 86 (aka GT86, Scion FR-S, Subaru BRZ), JDM Spec, In Japan" href="http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/12/review-from-the-backseat-2013-toyota-86-gt-limited-aka-gt86-scion-fr-s-subaru-brz-jdm-spec-in-japan/">(aka GT86, Scion FR-S, Subaru BRZ). Today at the show, one gets the impression that customizing the hachi-roku definitely is a huge growth industry.
There is hardly any booth at the Tokyo Auto Salon that does not feature a customized hachi-roku of some sort, or at least hachi-roku related merchandise. Tomorrow, we will try to give you an overview.
Toyota’s booth of course teems with done-up hachi-roku. Under the Toyota brand, there are the “86 × style Cb”, the “86 Modellista “, the “86 TRD Griffon ” and the “Tom’s N086V” – all called “concepts” as in “sorry, don’t run to your dealer to buy one.”
Then, there is the “GRMN Sports FR Concept Platinum,” a hachi-roku-based circuit sports car that should send discussion boards and blogs into high gear. It has what hachi-rockers had demanded even before the 86 went on sale: A turbocharger. And a supercharger for good measure. Toyota and Subaru had maintained that there is no space under the hood for a blower, but after several bolt-ons appeared, Toyota changed its mind. “GRMN” by the way stands for “GAZOO Racing tuned by MN.”
Glad you asked.
Actually, a twin-charged hachi-roku-based circuit sports car concept had been announced a year ago, but it does not hurt to show it to the adoring masses.
Auto Salon goers are true maniacs, and they immediately focused their attention on newer offerings.
![Bertel Schmitt](https://cdn-fastly.thetruthaboutcars.com/media/profile/2022/07/20/32231_1.jpg?size=91x91)
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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- Kjhkjlhkjhkljh kljhjkhjklhkjh A prelude is a bad idea. There is already Acura with all the weird sport trims. This will not make back it's R&D money.
- Analoggrotto I don't see a red car here, how blazing stupid are you people?
- Redapple2 Love the wheels
- Redapple2 Good luck to them. They used to make great cars. 510. 240Z, Sentra SE-R. Maxima. Frontier.
- Joe65688619 Under Ghosn they went through the same short-term bottom-line thinking that GM did in the 80s/90s, and they have not recovered say, to their heyday in the 50s and 60s in terms of market share and innovation. Poor design decisions (a CVT in their front-wheel drive "4-Door Sports Car", model overlap in a poorly performing segment (they never needed the Altima AND the Maxima...what they needed was one vehicle with different drivetrain, including hybrid, to compete with the Accord/Camry, and decontenting their vehicles: My 2012 QX56 (I know, not a Nissan, but the same holds for the Armada) had power rear windows in the cargo area that could vent, a glass hatch on the back door that could be opened separate from the whole liftgate (in such a tall vehicle, kinda essential if you have it in a garage and want to load the trunk without having to open the garage door to make room for the lift gate), a nice driver's side folding armrest, and a few other quality-of-life details absent from my 2018 QX80. In a competitive market this attention to detai is can be the differentiator that sell cars. Now they are caught in the middle of the market, competing more with Hyundai and Kia and selling discounted vehicles near the same price points, but losing money on them. They invested also invested a lot in niche platforms. The Leaf was one of the first full EVs, but never really evolved. They misjudged the market - luxury EVs are selling, small budget models not so much. Variable compression engines offering little in terms of real-world power or tech, let a lot of complexity that is leading to higher failure rates. Aside from the Z and GT-R (low volume models), not much forced induction (whether your a fan or not, look at what Honda did with the CR-V and Acura RDX - same chassis, slap a turbo on it, make it nicer inside, and now you can sell it as a semi-premium brand with higher markup). That said, I do believe they retain the technical and engineering capability to do far better. About time management realized they need to make smarter investments and understand their markets better.
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Forgive me if these questions have been answered elsewhere on the site, but how many 86/BRZs have been sold in Japan and to what demographic? I know from living in Japan for almost a decade that there is a small, hardcore group of people who are into customizing performance cars but that there is nothing like the market we have in the US. I also know there is virtually no youth market, new or used, for cars there either. To that end, I would imagine the real sales of these cars are just a drop in the ovrall bucket and that much of the enthusiasm we see for them is more manufactured than it is grass roots. Beyond the cool factor and the wishful "Gosh if I had a place to park it and if my wife would allow it, I would buy one of those" thinking, what is the real situation in the market for these cars there? Just curious.
My sister has the FR-S with the stick. She loves it just the way it came. (So do I but I wish the roof were two inches higher.) So, I don't think there will be any customizing. (Her husband has an Audi TT, but I think she's more the sports car lover than he is.)