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Why does Toyota not build motorcycles?

rritterson said:
the barrier to entry is high and they are already competing very well to be the largest automaker in world. In the car world, you can generally build something people want and they'll buy it. In the motorcycle world, the refresh cycle is very short, the competition high, and you have to build what people think they want, even if it's ridiculous. (unless you are BMW)
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this.

they don't need to make keyboards either.
 
Frankrc51 said:
Imagine if the throttle suck on a liter bike ? F$&k that
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Well I can't see why you would install the wrong floor mats on a motorcycle, especially since there is not a right floor mat for a motorcycle, so sure.

rsrider said:
I'm glad they don't. I can't imagine a show room floor with the MC equivalent of a Yaris, Corolla, Camry, Avalon and Prius.
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Why, because they might actually sell? And increase the number of avid motorcyclists?
Besides look at the difference between the BMW car image vs. motorcycle image (slightly improved of late, but still). Suzuki cars vs. Suzuki bikes

Antarius said:
Why?

Because they're still trying to remember how to make cars and trucks without recalling millions of them a few months later.
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Please over the last 10 years they aren't even in the top ten for recall units. I think the #1 one was a GM recall, #2 was that controller that Ford had used in millions of cars, that was starting cars on fire, even if the car was turned off at the time. I'd rather be forced to switch my car to nuetral on the highway than wake up at 2am to my whole house being on fire from my car in the garage.

Besides, at this time every single investigation has cleared Toyota of any actual problem with a stuck throttles.

As of this past late summer/early fall they were number 17 on the NHTSA list of manufacturer complaints out of the 20+ manufacturers in the US market. And they have been #1 or #2 in sales for the last few years, so reasonably they should be in the top 3 for complaints not at the bottom.
Consumer Reports just came out with their annual car edition, and Toyota still, even for 2010 had one of the best reliability records.

At the begining of the whole hubub, when people were screaming about Toyota acting too slow, there were 34 complaints. OK, that obviously sucks if, and it is a big if, there were problems for those people, but 34 problems when you have a few million cars on the road, is an infintesimible percentage.
 
TripleThreat said:
If you look closely, the right cheek is more exposed.....an old ladies bikini would show more.

Violation: Too much right cheek.

TT
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I missed it, but really was an image of a girl in a bikini actually pulled? Why no just, if you really felt the need, make it so that you had to click on a warning to display the pic. Aren't we all adults?

Zerox said:
I want Toyota to stick a Prius-based engine in a little 2WD Tacoma, for a motorcycle-haulin' truck that gets 40 mpg. BUILD IT! :p
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The did a small hybrid truck concept a few years ago. I think it went nowhere. Prius is going to soon be a whole line essentially. They have the Prius V (read 5) coming out at the end of the year with more cargo capacity, about 50% more. And at about the same time, a smaller 2 seat Prius that will be both the cheapest hyibrid and the most efficient availible. Next year is the plug in version.

ob1ventura said:
Think it was about 15 years ago that Toyota was rumored to mfg a light aircraft for general aviation. Really wish they would have.
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They were making boat engines for a while, and even did full boats for like a year or two.
Honda came out with a small personal jet a year or two ago.
 
Please no one has wanted to copy anything out of GM in more than 40 years. Except in China. Toyota certainly has no tried to copy GM, beat them yes, copy them no. What intelectual property or business acumen could Toyota possibly want from GM???

Motech said:
GM does not build bikes, and Toyota is not poised to copy anyone else.
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Carlo said:
I know. Like most Japanese companies, they build whatever they can do reasonably well that sells.
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Almost any company would like to do that. Ford used to sell Charcoal. Winchester made sewing machines at one time. Kodak made grenades during WWII. You used to be able to buy a Sears house, delivered right to your front step, or at least where your front step was going to be once you received it. As well as a Sears motorcycle. It isn't limited to japanese companies

Kornholio said:
Because LFA's are totally flooding the market, right? :rofl
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No, but nor were they meant to. That wasn't the intent. But it is an exciting car for a auto enthusiast from Toyota, which you were implying doesn't exist.
So is the ISF and the last IS I drove was quite a bit of fun.
Are you saying the Chevy Aveo is exciting? The Malibu? The Sebring?

They are doing something right to become the world's largest auto company with just 4 lines world wide and for a short while the biggest seller in the US. All that, plus no bankruptcy!
 
Settle down, Beavis. IS F's are heavy as shit, understeer like mad and that eight-speed transmission has more trouble making up its mind than an over-caffeinated teenager. What a waste of money. Toyota builds nice cars, but not exciting cars. They can leave that the the Europeans who've been handing Toyota their ass in that department for decades.


Oh and for gods sake learn how to multi-quote already. :twofinger
 
Kornholio said:
Settle down, Beavis. IS F's are heavy as shit, understeer like mad and that eight-speed transmission has more trouble making up its mind than an over-caffeinated teenager. What a waste of money. Toyota builds nice cars, but not exciting cars. They can leave that the the Europeans who've been handing Toyota their ass in that department for decades.
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Proof.
You have no idea what you're talking about. :|
 
Mmmkay, since we're gonna play it that way, when I get home this evening and actually have the time, I'll take the time to post up all the articles (and perhaps videos) of people besides Jeremy Clarkson who can clearly state the car suffers from understeer. Top Gear, and Jeremy Clarkson, are not the be all/end all when it comes to automotive review. In fact, most would agree that show, and Clarkson's opinion, is more entertainment value than factual.
 
Kornholio said:
Mmmkay, since we're gonna play it that way, when I get home this evening and actually have the time, I'll take the time to post up all the articles (and perhaps videos) of people besides Jeremy Clarkson who can clearly state the car suffers from understeer. Top Gear, and Jeremy Clarkson, are not the be all/end all when it comes to automotive review. In fact, most would agree that show, and Clarkson's opinion, is more entertainment value than factual.
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confused as the european models are comparably stated as being superior...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g_lDuR-G8Y
 
RcrBoy said:
Don't need to own one, I work on them for a living.

But it does sound like you need to get some professional driving instruction. :|
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Funny, we have a family friend that works for a Lexus dealer. Go figure.

Also, I can sit here and say that just because my company's products work great for us in the shop, that means they shouldn't have any problems with the customers in the field, right? Wrong. :|

You're also aware that almost every production car pretty much is designed to have even just a little bit of understeer from the factory, right? :|

And furthermore, the understeer wasn't even my biggest gripe with that car. It's more the weight and the transmission. I frankly don't care how it works for you the mechanic. As you should already know, the only opinion that matters in the automotive industry is the customer's. If they think the product sucks, then it sucks.

How many IS-F's roll through your shop? Shit, how many do you see on the road? I could easily count more M3's on a daily basis and be at a higher number than what I see of IS-F's in a month or two. :rolleyes
 
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