FYI: This letter was written by a Loyal Toyota Owner in US.
Below is the letter that he wrote to Toyota. The other day he got a phone call: "Thank you for your letter. We’ve received a lot of CNG inquiries lately. We’ll forward your letter to the management right away. But we do not guarantee anything". At least they acknowledge CNG existence.
July 8, 2008
Dear Toyota representative,
I have no illusions regarding this letter, but at least I hope you will read it.
If you are in US, you know what the gas prices are. According to New York Times this will put 10 million vehicles off the roads within the next 3 years! I would like to suggest Toyota to start selling it’s alternative fuel models, namely Crown Comfort (LPG) and Probox (CNG) in US.
To get more info about either one of these fuels, please visit www.cngchat.com. But first let me remind you that Honda is already selling CNG Civic GX to the public, and is hugely successful, especially in places like California and Utah, where CNG is easily accessible and cheap. Why is my favorite Toyota hesitating?
more on » NGV Toyota may or may not be coming
Earlier today we took a look at a rather shot-in-the-dark rendering of the upcoming rear-wheel-drive coupe from Toyota and Subaru. Our friendly neighborhood spy photographers at CarPix must have been tuned in, as they’ve come back this evening with the first-ever real images of the car–at least in prototype form.
more on » Toyota-Subaru RWD Coupe Spied
Malaysian still loves their cars, but look to the country who owns a few of world’s mega automotive corporation. It could be years before we ditch the cars an hop on the public transport.
A gadget-crazy people show no interest in new cars,dismiss the four-wheeled horse as ’so 20th century.’ Akiko Kashiwagi
Kimiyuki Suda should be a perfect customer for Japan’s carmakers. He’s a young (34), successful executive at an Internet-services company in Tokyo and has plenty of disposable income. He used to own Toyota’s Hilux Surf, a sport utility vehicle. But now he uses mostly subways and trains. “It’s not inconvenient at all,” he says. Besides, “having a car is so 20th century.”
Suda reflects a worrisome trend in Japan; the automobile is losing its emotional appeal, particularly among the young, who prefer to spend their money on the latest electronic gadgets. While minicars and luxury foreign brands are still popular, everything in between is slipping. Last year sales fell 6.7 percent—7.6 percent if you don’t count the minicar market. There have been larger one-year drops in other nations: sales in Germany fell 9 percent in 2007 thanks to a tax hike. But analysts say Japan is unique in that sales have been eroding steadily over time. Since 1990, yearly new-car sales have fallen from 7.8 million to 5.4 million units in 2007.
more on » Japanese and cars Post-Car Society
