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Toyota sees Camry share loss despite predicting increasing sales

Toyota may be set to lose share the midsize sedan market. While speaking with Automotive News, Toyota North America CEO Jim Lentz said that if his company kept pace with the current swell in the market for family four doors, Toyota would need to sell around 500,000 Camry models. "I'm not sure we can do much more than 400 [thousand] today," Lentz said.
But that doesn't mean Camry sales are shrinking - on the contrary, Lentz thinks Toyota will likely sell more Camry units in 2013 than it did in 2012, it's just that the company isn't keeping pace with segment's current explosion in popularity. Industry wide, midsized sedan sales have increased by 20 percent. "Are we going to lose [Camry] share? Probably so," Lentz said, "but we will continue to grow in raw volume."
Toyota sold 404,886 Camry units last year, and the company just revised its 2013 sales objective from 2.18 million units earlier this year to 2.2-million plus units, so while things are looking up for the brand and Camry sales may be on the rise, Toyota may not have the muscle to keep up its share in the sedan segment. Whether that's because of a production bottleneck or a predicted sales ceiling isn't clear. We've got a call in and will update this news item if/when we learn more.

A new Toyota MR2? We want to believe

In the wake of a busy Geneva auto show, the rumor mill is churning, and the latest grist involves one of the most beloved Toyota sports cars of all time. EVO reports that Tetsuya Tada, the chief of the Scion FR-S/Toyota 86 project and a hard-liner about sportscar priorities (light and nimble, but with modest horsepower), wants a third vehicle for Toyota's nascent sporty lineup. Currently, we know there's a Supra-like vehicle in the works, being co-developed with BMW, and the 86 is sticking around. Tada said he'd like a third sportscar to compliment the two we know about, and that he wants it soon. A quick bit of history: Toyota's classic sporty lineup had three components. The most visible was the Supra, whose power and prestige grew as the car evolved from a cushy personal tourer to a high-horsepower, high-technology icon. The Celica was its Clark Kent, more mild mannered but also more accessible and affordable. The third was the MR2, a mid-engined go-kart that lasted for three distinct generations. Each had its charms, and all have their fans. When Tada says that he wants three sportscars in the lineup, we already know about the Supra successor, and the 86 is already filling the Celica's role, so the blank is easy to fill. It doesn't sound like Tada spoke the word "MR2" to EVO, or hinted that the car would be mid-engined, but Tada doesn't seem to say anything without purpose. Whatever the layout, this third car – if it comes to fruition – will probably play a role similar to the MR2 in relation to its stablemates. To translate: it'll likely be even lighter and more nimble, and probably less powerful, than the 86. The closest real-world analogue to the pure MR2 ideal is the Honda S660, a mid-engined Kei roadster that's on sale in Japan right now. It's light, small, and powered by a 0.66-liter inline-three. Toyota could decide to directly compete with the S660, borrow an engine from its small-car specialist subsidiary Daihatsu, and produce a mid-engined MR2. Another possibility, even simpler from Toyota's perspective, would be to adapt the existing Daihatsu Copen roadster. Sure, it's front-engine and front-wheel drive, but it's a small, light roadster. And even better, it sells abroad with a larger 1.3-liter engine. Restyle it slightly, perhaps to resemble the S-FR concept of a couple years ago, and it's an off-the-shelf solution. The S-FR itself is a third possibility.

Toyota amalgamates motorsports divisions under Gazoo Racing

Toyota has more racing divisions than we could wave a checkered flag at, with the company's various motorsport activities all coordinated by different operations. But the Japanese industrial giant is now bringing most (if not all) of them under one roof. From here on in, any racing that was done under the Toyota Racing, Lexus Racing or Gazoo Racing banners will now be united under the latter. That includes the LFAs it races around the Nurburgring, the TS040 Hybrid it fields at Le Mans and in the World Endurance Championship, the Yaris it will soon throw at the World Rally Championship, the Lexus racers that compete in the Super GT championship back in Japan... the works. The move does not appear to affect Toyota Racing Development, the automaker's American arm that handles its NASCAR racing activities, but from here on out, any Toyota or Lexus you see racing on most anything but a speedway will be competing under Gazoo Racing. The move appears to be more than symbolic and semantic, putting its racing vehicle development, technical support and marketing activities in the hands of the new Motor Sports Group. In announcing the consolidation, Toyota highlights in particular the benefit its various racing programs bring to its talent pool, if not the direct effect they have on the company's vehicles themselves. Toyota Racing, Lexus Racing and GAZOO Racing Unite Under GAZOO Racing Toyota City, Japan, April 9, 2015-Starting April 11, Toyota will unite all motorsports activities under GAZOO Racing. The move will clarify the role of Toyota's motorsports in its efforts to make ever-better cars and foster new generations of car enthusiasts. Until now, Toyota has participated in competitions around the world-including the World Endurance Championship (WEC), the Super GT in Japan, and the Nurburgring 24 Hours endurance race-through the separate Toyota Racing, Lexus Racing and GAZOO Racing teams. Of those, GAZOO Racing in particular was created to expand the role of promoting motorsports beyond that of traditional automakers, and carry out grassroots activities aimed at creating new and ever-growing generations of car enthusiasts. Concerning today's announcement, Toyota President Akio Toyoda said: "Our founder Kiichiro Toyoda once said that motorsports are vital to the evolution of car making and the entire auto industry.