Model rollout to cement Toyota dominance

BRACE yourself for new-model mania at Toyota in 2007.

Just as arch-rival GM Holden enters a holding pattern until its all-new VE Ute joins the Korean-sourced Epica mid-sizer on sale here late next year, Toyota Australia is preparing to roll out a procession of redesigned and repowered models it hopes will continue the brand's Australian market dominance beyond this decade.

Not content with selling more passenger cars, more commercials and more vehicles, period, than any other brand this year – to claim the industry's coveted "triple crown" for the first time (Holden was the last to do it, in 1978) – Toyota intends to become the nation's top-selling car brand for the fifth consecutive year in 2007.

VFACTS figures released this week show that with a month of sales remaining, 196,200 vehicle sales so far in 2006 (up from 184,397 to November 2005) gives Toyota an unassailable 22.2 per cent market share – up from 20.3 per cent last year and a whole seven market share points ahead of Holden.

The company now hopes to sell a total of 215,000 Toyotas (up from the original target of 208,000) and 7200 Lexus models (up from a forecast of 6500) this year.

By 2010, however, Toyota hopes to snare an ambitious 25 per cent of Australia's mature new-vehicle market by selling 250,000 cars and commercials in Australia.

That is what the world's third-largest and most profitable car-maker requires from its Australian subsidiary to help it achieve TMC's target of capturing 15 per cent of the world's motor vehicle market by 2010 – when the company hopes to sell 10 million vehicles, including no fewer than a million hybrid cars.

While an Australian-built petrol-electric car will not be part of the new-model rollout this decade, the Altona-built Camry mid-sizer and the Aurion sedan will be joined by a range of new small, high-performance, SUV, commercial and luxury models by this time next year.

"(Ten million annual sales) will come on the back of new product – and from the growth markets, which we refer to as BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China," Toyota Australia's senior executive director for sales and marketing, David Buttner, told GoAuto.

"In 2005 globally Toyota sold seven million vehicles, so that's another three million additional vehicles we’ve got to build annually to achieve that.

"To sell that volume, we've got to build an additional 500,000 vehicles annually. The biggest plants in the world can build about 500,000 annually and the average is about 250,000, so that’s two new plants we've got to build annually between now and 2010." One of the first cabs off the new-Toyota rank in 2007 will be a six-cylinder Tarago, powered by a variation of the 3.5-litre DOHC V6 that produces 200kW in the Aurion sedan, with which it will also share its six-speed automatic.

The first of three models to receive the all-alloy VVT-i V6 in 2007, the more potent Tarago mates eight-seat flexibility with V6 power for the first time.

Expect the Tarago V6 to knock the socks off the garden-variety fourth-generation Tarago (125kW/224Nm 2.4-litre) four released here in March, as well as Honda's equally popular Odyssey.

Toyota expects up to 100 sales a month, despite the fact pricing will open well beyond the $50,000 mark.

Sharing the same 3.5 V6, six-speed automatic and front-drive layout – and still offering seating for seven – will be a new entry-level version of Toyota's bolder second-generation Kluger, priced from the mid-$30,000s.

Both the 2WD and AWD versions of the redesigned Kluger SUV are due on sale here mid-year, following the all-new Camry-based model’s global debut at the Detroit motor show in January.

"We need the 4x2 sales," Mr Buttner admitted. "We've left that segment to others for far too long." Pioneered by its most direct rival in Ford’s top-selling Territory, Kluger II's 2WD/AWD model strategy will not be replicated by other medium SUVs like Holden's Captiva and Mitsubishi’s new Outlander.

While that gives the Japanese-built Kluger extra potential market coverage, the 4x2's higher import duty (10 per cent, versus 5 per cent for the 4x4) negates the cheaper variant's cost savings for Toyota. So expect Toyota to shrink its profit margins to attract the sales volume it needs to establish Kluger in the Territory-dominated segment.

"If you introduce a 4x2 Kluger, you attract a lot of people who don't need a 4x4 at all – ever," Toyota Australia product planning manager Doug Soden told GoAuto.

"They want a flexible vehicle. The SUV market is basically the wagon for people who didn't want wagons. That's why there's no Camry wagon – because the global wagon market has virtually disappeared. People are buying a RAV instead of a Corolla wagon globally, and here they're buying a Kluger instead of a Camry wagon." Hot on the new Kluger's heels will be a cracking V6 version of the third-generation RAV4 launched here in February. Already on sale in the US, where it is also available in 2WD guise, the six-speed auto-equipped RAV4 V6 will become the fourth model in Toyota's range to offer 3.5-litre V6 power.

Expect a seven-seat version to rival Outlander (and Kluger) – but not initially. "(A seven-seat variant) is a very easy thing to do," Mr Soden said. "The third row is a decision we can make at the very final moment. We don’t need to commit just yet." Another all-new release for 2007 will be Toyota's 10th-generation Corolla, due here in both uniquely designed sedan and hatch bodystyles in April.

Already on sale in Japan under its new global model moniker, Auris – a name TMCA has managed to talk its parent out of using in Australia – the all-new Corolla will bring new engines, including a redesigned 1.8-litre four-cylinder.

Toyota could spring a surprise by releasing the first ever turbo-diesel Corolla from the new model's launch, but whenever it comes (chairman emeritus John Conomos has confirmed Corolla will definitely offer diesel power within this model generation) it is not expected to set Corolla sales ablaze.

"We're working pretty hard on the turbo-diesel," Mr Soden said. "It will be interesting, but in my capacity as planning manager I'm still not convinced that turbo-diesel in passenger vehicles is a very good way to go." Diesel power will certainly be at the forefront of Toyota's mind when it offers a taste-test of a bullocking new V8 turbo-diesel, which is destined to power Toyota's 100-Series LandCruiser replacement here by late 2007 – but will first debut in the upgraded and expanded 70-Series LandCruiser workhorse range set for release here before June.

GoAuto sources indicate a 195kW/620Nm single-turbo version destined for Toyota's US-market Tundra pickup will power the updated leaf-sprung 70-Series models here.

Apart from the decades-old 79-Series cab-chassis ute and the iconic two-door 78-Series Troop Carrier (which will continue in three- six- and 11-seat configurations), Toyota will introduce an all-new 76-Series wagon derivative for the first time – complete with five doors, five seats, a lower roof than Troopy and a wider body than 100-Series wagon.

All three trucks will come exclusively with a five-speed manual transmission and part-time 4WD system.

Mated to a six-speed Aisin automatic gearbox, an even more powerful twin-turbo version of the 70-Series' yet-to-appear 4.5-litre diesel V8 will emerge in the LandCruiser 200-Series, as the 100-Series replacement will be known.

With more than 200kW and 650Nm of torque on tap, the standard 200-Series diesel engine will make the 4.2-litre straight-six diesel in the current 100-Series look positively anaemic, but a more powerful 5.0-litre-plus V8 – up from 4.7 and possibly featuring direct-injection – will also power the next-generation Cruiser.

Snapped during testing recently in the Middle East, the 200 body will be slightly larger but remains bolted to a full ladder chassis with all-coil suspension, comprising double front wishbones and a live rear axle to maintain rock-hopping ability.

It will also debut a version of the Australian-developed Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System (KDSS) already offered with the US-only Lexus GX470 (Prado).

Bookending all this will be two locally fettled TRD (Toyota Racing Development) models. The supercharged version of the front-drive Aurion was previewed by the Aurion Sports Concept at the Sydney motor show in October and will make its production debut in March at the Melbourne show.

While it will aim at the likes of Commodore SS and Falcon XR8/XR6 Turbo, the HiLux TRD, which is expected to be powered by a version of the Aurion TRD’s 240kW-plus blown V6, hopes to rival the likes of SS and XR utes when it debuts at next year’s Sydney show. Corolla and Yaris-based TRD variants should follow in 2008.

What's coming from Toyota:
Tarago V6	Feb
Aurion TRD	Mar
Corolla sedan/hatch	April
LandCruiser 76-Series 5D wagon	May
LandCruiser 78-Series Troop Carrier	May
LandCruiser 79-Series Cab-Chassis	May
Kluger SUV (2WD/AWD)	July
RAV4 V6	Aug
HiLux TRD	Oct
LandCruiser 200-Series wagon	Oct