DETROIT — Toyota held their annual holiday party on Thursday afternoon at the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel in downtown Detroit. The Japanese-based automaker parked two of its vehicles under the marquee. However, the big announcement took place in one of the ballrooms inside the hotel.
“It is a good time for Toyota,” said Bob Carter, President of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. “We are coming back to the Detroit Auto Show in a big way. We will be unveiling the all-new Supra at the Auto Show.”
He continued: “It is clear that consumers are moving from cars to SUVs or CUVs. We are committed to cars. Lexus is having a very good year. The ES is a very good plan. I am very bullish on the market. For 2018, we produced 17.1 million to 17.2 million cars. However, I am not anticipating a 17-million market next year. We predict the market to be mid to upper 16 (million).”
The Lexus RC F Track-Car is in very limited production. “It is the fastest and most powerful vehicle ever made,” added Carter.
Yesterday, Toyota North America CEO Jim Lentz addressed the Detroit Economic Club. Before giving his speech, he told WJR Radio: “It’s all about the big four for the future. It’s all about autonomy, electrification, mobility as a service, and what we can do with big data–connected cars. I think we all know that’s going to be the future. The question becomes when does that future materialize. That’s the uncertainty everyone’s dealing with. I think everyone has different assumptions about the rate of adoption across each of those different issues. The key today is to be agile. The rate of change in the industry is like we’ve never seen before.”
The 2020 Toyota Supra will also be used as the automaker’s race car in the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series and Xfinity Series. That vehicle was shown at the Los Angeles Auto Show last week.
Special thanks to the great folks at Toyota for allowing us to attend their annual holiday party.
