Tokyo Big Sight. That’s the name of the complex of exhibition halls through which I trudged during the start of the 42nd Tokyo Motor Show. Alas, this show is not the big sight it once was and the same can be said of Japan’s auto industry.
Twenty-four years ago, when this show moved to the Makuhari Messe International Convention Complex in Chiba, an hour away from downtown Tokyo if the traffic is light, Honda and Toyota and Nissan – the Big Three Japanese auto makers – truly were a sight to behold. These were fast-moving, innovative creators of fuel-efficient and reliable mass-market vehicles and they were a collective corporate juggernaut, hammering Detroit’s auto makers in particular, but frightening and threatening Europe’s best as well.
Back then, Toyota and Nissan were shockingly full of themselves. Both were readying all-new luxury brands as a sign of either cockiness or confidence or both. Lexus, Toyota’s then-new premium line, took its cues from Mercedes-Benz, emphasizing sedate luxury – the sedate part reflecting Toyota’s own values as a car company. Nissan based its Infiniti brand on BMW, Germany’s self-proclaimed ultimate driving machine.
So here we are in 2011 and only now is Infiniti putting in place a global plan intended to boost annual sales to 500,000 from about 160,000. Infiniti has wandered through two lost decades and even now Infiniti vehicles are not sold in Japan – perhaps because some of them have been offered as Nissans here. And Lexus, well, the new GS mid-size “sport” sedan – both hybrid and gasoline – was unveiled here and you will find the odd Lexus dealership in Japan, too. But Lexus’s sales have fallen from No. 1 in North America among premium brands to No. 3.
And Honda? The combined sales of Hyundai-Kia will outpace Honda in North America this year by a wide margin; Hyundai alone has out-sold Honda in Canada by some 24,000 units through November. Yes, the mighty have fallen a bit, though only a fool would count them down and out.
That said, this year’s Tokyo show was supposed to trumpet the rebirth of Japan’s once seemingly indomitable car business. The plan was to show a bit of swagger, to boast of the Japanese industry’s technological edge in so-called “green” cars. Japan as a whole has grown obsessed with environmental and safety issues and this ethic seems to have overwhelmed its car companies and not entirely in a good way.
And there was more. Toyota, soon to lose the crown of world’s biggest auto maker to long-time rival General Motors, was a humbled and repentant presence this year. Toyota has been battered by nagging quality issues, millions of recalled vehicles and, as Toyota president Akio Toyoda emotionally noted, the punishing economic aftershocks from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami north of Tokyo. Flooding in Thailand has also whipsawed Toyota’s suppliers, and those of other car makers, too.
Perhaps battered but certainly unbowed, the sprawling Toyota exhibit was festooned with banners touting the company’s renewed interest in stuffing driving pleasure and excitement back into its vehicles. Yet the centrepiece of Toyota’s display was a plug-in version of the Prius hybrid, likely to start around $40,000 in Canada when it hits showrooms early next year. Toyota also banged the drum for the upcoming Prius C subcompact hybrid, expected to sell in the low-$20,000s. These two marvels of hybrid technology are all about low emissions and fuel efficiency, not behind-the-wheel thrills.
But all was not lost for enthusiasts. Toyota showed a sexy rear-drive sports car called the “86” and it will be sold in Canada as the FR-S. Jointly developed with Subaru, whose version is the BRZ, the coming Scion sports car hints at a kind of “gearhead” energy and enthusiasm dating back to pre-Lexus times. Toyota types say this sort of sentiment is smouldering deep within Toyota.
At Nissan, CEO Carlos Ghosn tried hard to steer the conversation to the cars and concepts on stage, but his focus on the products was ambushed by repeated questions about the strong yen, which is truly devastating the car industry here and all other export-driven Japanese businesses.
