Toyota Readies Corolla For New Generation
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TOKYO June 26, 2018; Automotive News reported that in the Corolla, Toyota Motor Corp. has the best-selling car of all time. The problem is the people who bought the model when it was introduced in 1966 are still the main customers.
The average Corolla sedan owner in Japan is more than 70 years old, according to Toyota, making it a priority for the company to attract a new generation of buyers. Toyota is betting it can do that through Internet connectivity.
On Tuesday, Toyota began selling a fully redesigned Corolla Sport hatchback -- along with a new Crown, the flagship sedan in Japan akin to the Avalon in the U.S. -- as its first generation of fully connected cars.
"We're grateful that our older customers have remained loyal to the Corolla," said Yoshiki Konishi, chief engineer of the Corolla Sport, which next goes on sale in North America in the coming months and Europe in 2019.
"But we want the Corolla to resonate more with younger drivers ... we want to target people in their 20s and 30s."
Toyota's Data Communication Module hardware will come standard, allowing owners to perform tasks such as closing their car windows from a mobile phone and asking a virtual assistant for directions using the company's T-Connect service.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda is racing to turn the automaker his grandfather founded eight decades ago into a mobility-services provider, amid transformation in an industry where McKinsey & Co. estimates revenue from car data could reach $750 billion by 2030. Toyoda has called the cloud the biggest disruptor and largest opportunity for new automotive businesses, and has set a goal to have 70 percent of its new vehicles connected by 2020.
Most of the services Toyota is offering in the Corolla and Crown aren't new, with some available for more than a decade. But billing the cars as Toyota's first fully connected vehicles could create much-needed buzz for services that so far have failed to lure more buyers.