At the 2012 Toyota Camry press launch last month, the Japanese brand was proud to announce that between now and the end of 2012, no less than 20 Toyota, Lexus and Scion models will be added, completely redesigned or face-lifted.
This obviously includes the Camry and Camry Hybrid, as well as a bunch of vehicles we know are about to hit showrooms: Prius v, Prius c, Prius PHEV, Yaris Hatchback, Tacoma, Scion iQ, Scion FR-S; as well as the Lexus GS and GSh. We can also guess that the RAV4 will soon see a redesign. We’ll skip the speculation on which models will get revised grilles and taillights.
This is great. There will be plenty of action in Toyota/Scion and Lexus showrooms this year, and the company is glad to be reaching the light at the end of the tunnel. A string of bad luck and bad decisions have pretty much overshadowed operations for the last two years or so.
Twenty models in 15 months is a lot of products to talk about; I hope their marketing budget has been proportionally increased. Just ask Chrysler, who just finished overhauling the majority of their product lineup.
I wonder, though, if this strategy is beneficial in the long run? No doubt, a fresh product portfolio can only improve sales numbers and help draw more people into showrooms. On the other hand, if you redesign most (or all) of your models in one fell swoop then your products will all age at the same time as well.
Since all models have a product life cycle, this means they will all be redesigned at roughly the same time. Development costs will no longer be evenly spread out, and showrooms won’t benefit from new products every 2 or 3 years. At Toyota, 2012 should turn out to be a good year, but what about 2013? And 2014?
In my humble opinion, you must serve up new or redesigned products every year to ensure a constant flow of car shoppers in your showrooms, instead of releasing everything at once.
A two-year product drought can prove extremely risky. Just ask Suzuki with their dwindling sales and no new products in the pipeline for at least another year.
Over at Mitsubishi, the RVR is doing well in Canada, but sales of their i-MiEV electric car won’t compensate for the retirement of the Eclipse, Galant and Endeavor; a new Outlander is at least a year away, and we have no idea when the Lancer will see a renewal.
Mazda probably can’t wait for the 2013 CX-5 to arrive, as the Mazda5’s reskin was the only major news for the brand in 2011.
Finally, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why sales of the smart brand have been slipping steadily for the last three years.
Hyundai and Kia – yes, them again – have cleverly introduced one or two new or redesigned models every year. It’s no wonder we’re constantly talking about them, and their sales numbers are there to prove that their strategy is working.
This obviously includes the Camry and Camry Hybrid, as well as a bunch of vehicles we know are about to hit showrooms: Prius v, Prius c, Prius PHEV, Yaris Hatchback, Tacoma, Scion iQ, Scion FR-S; as well as the Lexus GS and GSh. We can also guess that the RAV4 will soon see a redesign. We’ll skip the speculation on which models will get revised grilles and taillights.
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| Photo: Michel Deslauriers/Auto123.com |
This is great. There will be plenty of action in Toyota/Scion and Lexus showrooms this year, and the company is glad to be reaching the light at the end of the tunnel. A string of bad luck and bad decisions have pretty much overshadowed operations for the last two years or so.
Twenty models in 15 months is a lot of products to talk about; I hope their marketing budget has been proportionally increased. Just ask Chrysler, who just finished overhauling the majority of their product lineup.
I wonder, though, if this strategy is beneficial in the long run? No doubt, a fresh product portfolio can only improve sales numbers and help draw more people into showrooms. On the other hand, if you redesign most (or all) of your models in one fell swoop then your products will all age at the same time as well.
Since all models have a product life cycle, this means they will all be redesigned at roughly the same time. Development costs will no longer be evenly spread out, and showrooms won’t benefit from new products every 2 or 3 years. At Toyota, 2012 should turn out to be a good year, but what about 2013? And 2014?
In my humble opinion, you must serve up new or redesigned products every year to ensure a constant flow of car shoppers in your showrooms, instead of releasing everything at once.
A two-year product drought can prove extremely risky. Just ask Suzuki with their dwindling sales and no new products in the pipeline for at least another year.
Over at Mitsubishi, the RVR is doing well in Canada, but sales of their i-MiEV electric car won’t compensate for the retirement of the Eclipse, Galant and Endeavor; a new Outlander is at least a year away, and we have no idea when the Lancer will see a renewal.
Mazda probably can’t wait for the 2013 CX-5 to arrive, as the Mazda5’s reskin was the only major news for the brand in 2011.
Finally, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why sales of the smart brand have been slipping steadily for the last three years.
Hyundai and Kia – yes, them again – have cleverly introduced one or two new or redesigned models every year. It’s no wonder we’re constantly talking about them, and their sales numbers are there to prove that their strategy is working.