Photo: Toyota
Toyota have been renowned for decades for their reliable and solidly built, if a little bland, cars. Nobody has ever bought a Toyota with their hearts, well maybe except the Supra or the Celica, as they never really appealed to real ‘car people’.
We think that Toyota made and still makes utilitarian cars to get you from A to B safely, comfortably, efficiently and without any fuss. There are apparently lots of fans of the no-fuss approach taken by Toyota, further emphasized by their position as the world’s largest automaker for many years, until recently (now they are trailing GM and Ford) - they must be selling their bland-looking cars to someone, right?
They have finally come around, though, with a change of philosophy, according to Kevin Hunter, the President of Toyota’s CALTY Desing Research department, who said “We’re going to act more instinctively,” and goes on to say. “We’ll continue listening to the customer, but we can’t do creative design only listening to the consumer. They don’t know what they want five years from now. We’re going to make some predictions.”
Following the numerous recalls, the Japanese tsunami of last year and the somewhat stale brand image, Toyota’s revival must be design-driven, as they have kind of ignored it lately and have (more or less) followed the VW philosophy of making all cars look the same, regardless of sub-brand or model. With cars such as the Lexus LFA under their belt, the Toyota designers have proved that they can make excellent looking cars, and we’re looking forward to their design revival.
They have finally come around, though, with a change of philosophy, according to Kevin Hunter, the President of Toyota’s CALTY Desing Research department, who said “We’re going to act more instinctively,” and goes on to say. “We’ll continue listening to the customer, but we can’t do creative design only listening to the consumer. They don’t know what they want five years from now. We’re going to make some predictions.”
Following the numerous recalls, the Japanese tsunami of last year and the somewhat stale brand image, Toyota’s revival must be design-driven, as they have kind of ignored it lately and have (more or less) followed the VW philosophy of making all cars look the same, regardless of sub-brand or model. With cars such as the Lexus LFA under their belt, the Toyota designers have proved that they can make excellent looking cars, and we’re looking forward to their design revival.
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