1980 Mk1 Celica Supra on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Scion iA and iM rolled into Yaris and Corolla lineups for 2017

The Scion brand may be going away, but most of its cars (sorry, tC) are living on. We'll see the 2017 Toyota 86 (nee Scion FR-S) at the New York Auto Show next week, and the automaker already confirmed that the Scion iA and iM will be rebadged as Toyotas. But instead of standing on their own, the former Scions will be rolled into existing model lines. "Yaris iA" and "Corolla iM" will be the official names of the cars, effective for 2017. It's a smart move, paring the relatively new Scion nameplates with well-known, existing Toyota monikers. Scion spokeswoman Nancy Hubbell tells Autoblog that the iA already exists as the Yaris in the Canadian and Mexican markets, so "that connection was already there." Plus, it's better for marketing. The combination of the two vehicles all under the Yaris nameplate means Toyota can focus its advertising dollars on one vehicle line, simply saying that you can now have the Yaris as a four-door sedan or a five-door hatchback. "The same goes with Corolla," Hubbell explains. She says the existing Toyota sedan and the Scion iM "paired really well," and again, it means Toyota can advertise the Corolla as having two body styles moving forward. There are benefits from a sales perspective, too. Never mind that Scion division sales were already included in Toyota's overall numbers – calling the new cars Yaris iA and Corolla iM means the company won't have to report these cars individual sales separately. It's like when Toyota made the Matrix – its technical name was Corolla Matrix, so its individual sales didn't have to be broken out. That means an extra boost in overall numbers for the Yaris and Corolla, even if the cars would have been reported under Toyota's numbers had they kept their Scion badges. View 18 Photos Related Video:

Toyota GT86, Scion FR-S sales disappointing worldwide?

Okay, folks - it appears we've got a problem. The Toyota GT86, Europe's counterpart to our own beloved Subaru BRZ and Scion FR-S coupes, is apparently not selling too well. This, according to Toyota's European Vice President of Research and Development, Gerald Killman, is what's limiting plans for additional variants of the rear-drive coupe.
"A faster version of that car would be at the top of most people's wish lists, but like the cabriolet, it is hard to justify a business case to push either model into production based on the current sales," Killman told AutoExpress. "Personally, I think that engine could use a little bit more," he added.
More troubling is that slow sales aren't limited to the Euro-spec car, with Killman claiming that the GT86 have been missing sales targets in major markets around the globe. It may not be that the US is one of those major markets, though. Scion's Vice President, Doug Murtha, tells Autoblog that his brand is happy with the sales of its version of the GT86, the FR-S. 18,000 units were sold last year, which Murtha says is "generally in line with original expectations for the car."

Toyota retires robots in favor of humans to improve automaking process

Mitsuru Kawai is overseeing a return to the old ways at Toyota factories throughout Japan. Having spent 50 years at the Japanese automaker, Kawai remembers when manual skills were prized at the company and "experienced masters used to be called gods, and they could make anything." Company CEO Akio Toyoda personally chose Kawai to develop programs to teach workers metalcraft such as how to forge a crankshaft from scratch, and 100 workstations that formerly housed machines have been set aside for human training.
The idea is that when employees personally understand the fabrication of components, they will understand how to make better machines. Said Kawai, "To be the master of the machine, you have to have the knowledge and the skills to teach the machine." Lessons learned by the newly skilled workers have led to shorter production lines - in one case, 96percent shorter - improved parts production and less scrap.
Taking time to give workers the knowledge to solve problems instead of merely having them "feed parts into a machine and call somebody for help when it breaks down," Kawai's initiative is akin to that of Toyota's Operations Management Consulting Division, where new managers are given a length of time to finish a project but not given any help - they have to learn on their own. It's not a step back from Toyota's quest to build more than ten million cars a year; it's an effort to make sure that this time they don't sacrifice quality while making the effort. Said Kawai, "We need to become more solid and get back to basics."