So...the TRD Aurion

[MR-PUNANNY]

My old man bought his camry new in 1990, still has it to this day....it never says die, even when i was on my p's 10 years ago!

[wiggah]

so pricing has been announced.. 56990 and theres an even higher spec model.

www.drive.com.au

i'm very interested to see if they'll pull this off... and yes i feel like a tool thinking it would be <50k.

[kabab]

The 3500s in black looks bloody awesome, if i was going to buy one that would be my pick

[TonyJZX]

as i said the LCT is $57k!

am i not mistaken in that one can buy a lexus for about that much and it's rwd?

[wiggah]

poxy motor and box in the lexus (is250) though.

[MR-PUNANNY]

dont tell me its all auto??

[TonyJZX]

dont tell me its all auto??

all automatic

you see these days companies are all about shrinking consumer choice

no wagons, no manual

i also find this disturbing:

The Aurion TRD will be available in two specification levels; the 3500S ($56,990) and the better appointed 3500SL ($61,500).

The 3500S comes with a stability control system, six airbags, power windows, cruise control, power driver’s seat, foglights, alloy pedals, air-conditioning, trip computer and a six-disc CD player.

For the extra $4510 the 3500SL gets things like more leather trim, two power-operated front seats, parking sensors and climate control for the air-conditioning

you're telling me for $57k I don't get climate control? or park sensors? that's kinda gay isn't it?

if i'm buying a $57k TOYOTA I expect it to be decked out with no options

[Captain_Slow]

[I]The Aurion TRD will be available in two specification levels; the 3500S ($56,990) and the better appointed 3500SL ($61,500).

Let's see....that's way, way more than an XR6T, XR8 or SS, a fair bit more than an SS V, and getting right up there into Clubsport pricing. Except it's not likely to tempt anyone out of any of those cars, so....who's going to buy it?

I think we have a modern day Ralliart Magna on our hands here.

[wiggah]

considering the onroad pricing you can get on the fords and holdens with a bit of legwork... how can this thing sell? its a good 20k more than a discounted xr6t. it would be interesting to see if toyota starts discounting if sales dont reach their initial target..

mazda tend to be quite tight with their discounts but in the end were offering double digit thousands $$ off their mps6's.

[trent from punchy]

arnt all hondas now made in thailand?

no.
the Accord (euro still made in japan) and civic are the two models which come to aus made in thailand.

Jazz is either thai or japan depending on age.

reason they did this, free trade agreement aus has with thailand.


TRD aurion isnt going against HSV/FPV
there is a class of buyer who is after a car like a
golf GTi, RX-8, Liberty GT, but needs/likes the space of a full size car, and prefers not to buy yobbo mobiles...

their sales estimates are very conservative, 500-1000 pa.
which they will acheive in a few months i reckon.

[audineil]

We have a Falcon and a Territory as staff work vehicles.

It has covered 20,000 fairly easy kilometers around gentle on cars Canberra.
It is on its 3th replacement diff, had a headgasket replaced, the instrument panel and the ECU. The dealer wanted to replace the dash with a second hand assembly, on a vehicle we bought new.

The Territory has done 15,000km. It has had most of the rear suspension bushes replaced. It has had a stress crack in the rear end repaired. It does tow a trailer containing an open wheel race car occasionally, but it weighs far less than the quoted 2500kg towing capacity. It gets 23 litres per 100km towing. It doesn't tow too badly hough, if you can ignore the noise.

Neil

[Nero]

Let's see....that's way, way more than an XR6T, XR8 or SS, a fair bit more than an SS V, and getting right up there into Clubsport pricing. Except it's not likely to tempt anyone out of any of those cars, so....who's going to buy it?

I think we have a modern day Ralliart Magna on our hands here.

Marco in a way there is an oxymoron in your response. Look at it this way: You say a 'modern day ralliart magna', seemingly to indicate an unwanted car yes? Of course in it's day the RA Magna was considered a very good thing, but they did not sell many of them in comparison o the various luke warm holdens and fords yes? Yet even some time on you refer back to it and it is still acknowledged as a worthy car...but you see the manufacturers want the 'halo effect' to filter down, they want to change images and influence perceptions. I seriously doubt that the Ralliart 380 was anything else than a marketing exercise and they did get many pages in magazines where they traditionally get very very little...possibly because of magazine sell and advertising spends with those publishers etc etc. Nevertheless it worked a bit and people took notice. In the same manner Toyota will want people to notice the Aurion TRD and will want the interest to flow onto the other aurions.
This is simply a marketing ploy much like the 427 monaro...they were never going to build it, ever. But they were allowed to race it and again benefited from the deception.

[Captain_Slow]

Unwanted car or at least a car with no obvious market, yes. Kula has probably come closest so far to defining who might actually buy this car, ie, someone who wants performance and space but not a Ford or a Holden. (Which begs the question, what are those people buying at the moment that the TRD Aurion will steal sales from?). I can't envisage that being a big market, certainly not in the 1000 sales a year area.

I get what you mean about the halo effect, but it won't be much of a halo effect if it turns out to be a poor car with poor sales. So I guess the proof of this car will be in the driving - the Ralliart Magna was generally acknowledged as a good thing, but it was only putting 180kW though the front wheels and the Magna was a fairly good handler in the first place. Saab Viggen is the other comparable car that comes to mind here - lots of power, FWD, and based on a car that was regarded as a dud handler in the first place (as the Aurion is).

Good on Toyota Australia for bringing something like this to the market - about time too, as I was saying earlier, but I don't think this is the right way to go about it. But then, I didn't think anyone would be fooled by the Camry/Aurion rebadge and I was well and truly wrong about that, so maybe the Toyota marketing machine really can sell anything.

[MR-PUNANNY]

We have a Falcon and a Territory as staff work vehicles.

It has covered 20,000 fairly easy kilometers around gentle on cars Canberra.
It is on its 3th replacement diff, had a headgasket replaced, the instrument panel and the ECU. The dealer wanted to replace the dash with a second hand assembly, on a vehicle we bought new.

The Territory has done 15,000km. It has had most of the rear suspension bushes replaced. It has had a stress crack in the rear end repaired. It does tow a trailer containing an open wheel race car occasionally, but it weighs far less than the quoted 2500kg towing capacity. It gets 23 litres per 100km towing. It doesn't tow too badly hough, if you can ignore the noise.

Neil

WOW! Thats crazy, my cousin use to be a ford sales man, XR's were always coming back for warranty diff replacements.

[kabab]

Guys keep forgetting the fact this is not about selling large volumes of cars its about changing brand perception and image...

Its a marketing exercise not a sales exercise.