"[Toyota] is planning a new emerging-market car aimed at budget-minded shoppers in China and Russia, reports AFP, citing a story in Britain's Financial Times. Toyota president Katsuake Watanabe had said to the Times, "The focus is on low-cost technology" for the car, which is expected to undercut Renault's Logan, a venture with Romanian automaker Dacia. The Logan uses Renault/Nissan's global B platform (as the Nissan Versa) but with reduced equipment and a simpler design; the stripped-down subcompact is aimed primarily at emerging markets in Asia, Eastern Europe, and Africa and starts at about $7000.
Toyota says that its competing vehicle in this class, like the Logan , will pass European safety standards. While not designed with Western Europe in mind, the Logan has found some success among budget-minded buyers even in several countries that use the euro. Such models are unlikely to ever go on sale in the U.S. , where it would simply not be cost-effective to install the required safety equipment on a vehicle in this price range.
As it stands, U.S. automakers have said that domestically produced small cars are a loss leader. They're looking to China and other emerging markets to produce potential U.S.-market small cars. Just last month, the Chrysler Group struck a deal with the Chinese automaker Chery to build a subcompact model based on last year's Hornet concept.
Watanabe said that Toyota plans to deliver the car at such a low price - presumably at a profit - by radically rethinking the design and production process, incorporating lower-cost materials, and possibly developing new materials for the project as needed.
By entering the emerging-market segment, Toyota has nearly all of the world market niches covered, including in the U.S. This year, the automaker is introducing an all-new version of its Tundra pickup that looks to be a greater threat than before to what has traditionally been the stomping ground of GM, Ford, and Dodge."
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