Toyota CEO lists favorite cars from other automakers

During a meeting of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, Toyota president Akio Toyoda offered a "Chapeau!" to his fellow CEOs by listing his favorite cars from other makers. He listed just one vehicle from five makers represented on the board, in alphabetical order: the Honda NSX, Isuzu Bellett, Mazda Cosmo, Mitsubishi Pajero (our Montero) and Nissan Skyline.

Toyoda didn't give his reasons for choosing these car beyond each being "memorable." Even so, going through the list any car enthusiast knows the Honda (Acura in the States) NSX needs no introduction nor explanation. The Mitsubishi Pajero is probably as well known for it's off-road excellence as it is for its name change in Spanish-speaking lands due to the word "pajero" – all the more intriguing when it's apparently named after an Argentine cat, Leopardus pajeros. And although the "Skyline" moniker was made famous overseas by the GT-R, the Nissan Skyline that Toyoda references has a long history and is our Infiniti G.

The Mazda Cosmo (pictured) was an Italian-esque little coupe produced from 1967 to 1995, the first series production vehicle with a two-rotor rotary engine. The Isuzu Bellett was that firm's in-house replacement for the English Hillmans it was rebranding, the first Japanese car to get GT badging (it would also get a GT-R version), and it would cover just about every segment with sedan, coupe, station wagon and pickup truck variants.

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/05/21/t...er-automakers/

 

I've often read with interest when bits of info come out regarding what auto CEO's personally like. What I've noticed over the years is the majority of them like older cars. This got me thinking, how perhaps it's damaging to have someone in control of a company who has his main interest looking backward. I would hope (and I hope I wrong with this), that those at the top of the design teams and company boards want to create the future with the next best thing that everyone else wants to immitate. I guess what has clouded my enthusiasm here is past articles on Bob Lutz and some Chrysler folk. After going through the 90's retro era and the coinciding decline of the Big Three, it became clear to me that old heads who like old cars tend to run companies into the ground. I hope Mr. Toyoda wants to be progressive and not try to recreate the past.

 

You raise a good point! The whole decline of the economy may have had more to do with that though. But that old style or old school way of thinking may be delaying advancement in design and consumer appeal.

 

He listed his one favorite from each of the 5 automakers on that particular board. Not his top 5 in general. Maybe it's more a comment on those 5 that he has to dig into the past to bring up a car he likes from them.

 

he only referenced japanese auto makers, and overall, not a very interesting list.

and i agree with fizzboy... it's not about the past, although connections to it are ok, and continuity are good. and sometimes bringing back retro aspects can work, and other times not so much (buick portholes lol).

 

He didn't list those cars because they were older. Those cars were HUGE advancements or were simply good at that time and they still are today. It's all about relativity and taking what made those cars good at that time, and applying the same concept to produce cars that will be good in this time.

I see no issues with Akio Toyoda. He is a very progressive leader (look at all the changes he made at the corporate level, LFA, GT-86, GS, etc.).

There is a difference between looking back and reusing the same ideas, and looking back and taking lessons learned and redeveloping the concepts to make them relevant to current times.

 

That's exactly what i was thinking.