The 1983 Corolla liftback—the E80 series was peak Corolla, relative to what was on offer in the C segment. Toyota was on a high then.
Tesla finished itself this year, by firing its new-product development team at a time when it desperately needs new products—proper products, too, not the Cyberstuck which has so many issues and can’t even be sold in most civilized places.
Who else had a virtually bare new-product cupboard or no funds to realize what was in there? Studebaker, Packard, Rover and Saab all come to mind very quickly.
Meanwhile, I see Toyota is gaslighting us. I’ve never fully been on board with Toyota and how much people love them—other than the E80 Corolla back in its day, I’ve usually put people on to other brands.
But to outright lie about climate change?
David Cebon in Automotive News points out that Toyota has BSed us by saying lithium is in scarce supply, so we shouldn’t pursue full EVs. Cebon says: ‘The problem with this is that there isn’t a shortage of lithium. Lithium prices have fallen dramatically because of oversupply.’
Toyota says hybrids can reduce emissions ‘further and faster’ than EVs. More BS. An EV or a plug-in hybrid does it better.
I’m not saying EVs are the world’s saviours for transportation, but it’s deeply disappointing to see Toyota engage in this level of deception. They sound like oil companies denying climate change.
In the Autocade Yearbook 2024, I drew the parallels between 2023 and 1974, but placed China in the position of Japan as the new player that could disrupt the industry, notably with small EVs. Toyota’s behaviour here is more akin to the Detroit of the early 1970s as it pushed gas guzzlers. It has its own agenda, promoting them at the expense of truth.
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