Nextourer

most of the updates are minor and they're getting more and more subtle.

Gen 9.5 Corolla - new grille, clear instead of pinkish reverse lights. That's about it for the exterior.

I8ABMR

I can think consumers can live with the great pricing and awesome financing. The 2 extra colors, new side mirrors, extra creases in the bumpers, and things like new shift ***** that manufacturers use to try to maintain buyer interest will not brake the deal for many consumers

EyeKutr

iTrader: (5)

Lexus already does not do this on some vehicles....look at the GX, heck SC430s all look the same to me

Fizzboy7

This article is total BS. Toyota is not desperate and would never dump facelifting their cars (nor would any car company). Everyone just loves to panic and gossip and Toyota feeds this. Cutting facelifts would be automotive suicide and putting oneself way behind the competitive curve. Even the weakest companies change their models, often more so than healthy companies (Hyundai's a classic study when they were trying to rebuild their image- a facelift every two years).
Sprucing up a model that's been out a few years DOES indeed bring in new lookers and customers. It's this type of thing that dealers feed off of in their sale's pitch. Proof is the bargaining always drops and profits increase when a model is freshly reworked.

The G Man

I guess the bottom line is if that extra 5 or 10% in sales increase is worth the millions spend on a facelift.

nthach

Didn't Toyota introduce a new engine to replace the NZ/AZ series engines that works in different displacements from the Yaris to the HS?

FWIW, Toyota has been known to juice as much life as they could from their existing engine lineups as does Honda, Nissan, Ford, BMW, and Mercedes. The A/R/UZ/MZ/JZ/VZ series have been used for over 10 years. Honda's mainstay is the K/J/D/B engines, Nissan made the VG series V6 for nearly 30 years, and BMW has evolved their I6 quite nicely. Ford is still using their Modular V8 and Zetec I4 today!

eyezack87

iTrader: (4)

^^They stopped using the old 2.4 in my year. Its the 2.5-liter 2AR-FE 4-cylinder engine now

TRDFantasy

** BUMP **

Bumping this thread, just to let people know Toyota has stayed true to their word . I can't find the exact article now, but in this thread was an article that Toyota would extend the life cycle of their models, but also introduce more substantial mid-cycle updates.

We now see some examples of those substantial mid-cycle updates; first we had the 2011 Avalon, and now the 2013 LS. Some people complained that the 2011 Avalon was a weak redesign, but the fact is that it was only a refresh; an update. The 2013 Avalon, now that is the true redesign.

With the 2013 LS, same thing. It may have over 3,000 new parts, but make NO mistake, this IS a refresh, an update and NOT a redesign. The true redesign of the LS should debut in about 2 years or so. It is a great refresh, a substantial refresh, but not a redesign. It keeps the current model fresh and competitive another few years until the full redesign shows up. More substantial mid-cycle updates is exactly what Toyota needed, and it's great they're doing this now.

Fizzboy7

I still call the whole reasoning BS. Toyota is saving money here, or taking a cheaper way out. Instead of timely, traditional facelifts or full redesigns, they are doing these spreadout large facelifts. If this pattern does indeed continue, it keeps the core model around longer before having to invest in full retooling. It's all about money savings, no matter how they spin it.

AlexusAnja

True, but what is Toyota (and any manufacturer for that matter) in the business to do? Make money by increasing profits and lowering cost. If they can make a "good design" and stretch the platform to say eight years, but make tangible changes instead of cosmetic changes, then they will save a lot of money in R&D and model cycle costs.

I remember when the Hondas were on 4-year model cycles, those days are long gone. The R&D costs and plant changes makes that too cost prohibitive.

We'll see how Toyota executes this plan and see if it's successful or not. Hey, it always takes one person to try the water to see how it is. If it's a success, you know other manufacturers will be more than glad to stretch their cycles out too.

TRDFantasy

Yes, it does help Toyota financially. Toyota is not a charity; no automaker is. However, Toyota under the leadership of Akio Toyoda deeply cares about the customer, just as it was at Toyota decades ago when the elder Toyoda family members were leading the company.

Aside from being a financially smart decision, here are some other facts for lengthening the product cycle while also doing substantial facelifts:

- improves quality and craftsmanship, as there is no rushing products out to market
- improves the mid-cycle updates, as they are more meaningful and substantial and make models feel more "fresh" even with a longer life cycle. Previous mid-cycle updates were often almost impossible to tell apart because the changes were so extremely subtle

I personally would much rather have say 6-7 year model life cycles with substantial refreshes every 3 years, compared to say 4-5 year model life cycles with extremely minor mid-cycle updates and sometimes questionable long-term quality due to the rush of a 4-5 year model cycle.

Fact of the matter is, when you look at the most reputable, prestigious, and trusted companies in ANY industries, they simply do not rush things. They do it right. This is what Toyota was until the shaky period they went through from the late 1990s to several years ago when they started to do things wrong, and chose to rush out products for short term gain at the cost of quality and longer-term harm. Toyota has learned from that and gone back to doing things right.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

took a while to realize the thread is 3 years old, but thanks for the update!

yup, the bean counter force is still strong.

spwolf

well, actually, original article is completely wrong... they will do large facelifts every 3-4 years, just like Avalon and 2013 LS... so they are spending more money than before.

Problem is that you have to plan for this for years, and take it into account when designing original car, etc, etc... so we wont see 3 year cycle for a while i think.

TRDFantasy

Yup, the original article is wrong. That was not the reason for the bump. The other article posted later in the thread talks about more significant mid-cycle updates, but that article doesn't work.

If this was only about saving money, then Toyota wouldn't be doing more significant mid-cycle refreshes.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

no disrespect meant, but think you should start a new thread... too confusing.