Quote:
Originally Posted by rolltidef32
Well, for one, Nissan has a bonified racing heritage, as does BMW, and most Marqs. VW has both Audi Sport and Porsche. Toyota doesn't really participate in major motorsports (NASCAR does not count!)
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Oh yes it does -- you don't count WRC or WEC (both of which Toyota have won outright in recent years) as a 'major' motorsport category?
It just doesn't do it for the same 'sexy' reasons as most other makers. It does it as a development platform for consumer-level products: nothing more, nothing less. It is purely a strategic thing relative to the end game of consumer vehicle sales -- as its involvement in NASCAR has demonstrated.
Understand why Toyota races, and you'll understand why Toyota makes its decisions for cars like the Supra. It really is as simple as that for the company -- and that's not translatable to any other carmaker that also races, which is why it's so misunderstood.
Oh, and to the n00b yahoo who thinks that people don't cross-shop Lexus with Toyota:
The only reason the Lexus CT was designed and sold was because Prius owners expressed mass interest in a more luxurious, more conventional-looking version of the Prius. If that's not cross-shopping -- combined with, in this instance, cross-development (Hey! There's a familiar theme in this thread!), I don't know what is.