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Get Your Act Together, Toyota (and other Japanese Automakers)

I post this blog post as a rant of sort.

 I feel that Toyota has been on a downward spiral. It all started with the 2011 Sienna, which is a disappointment compared to its predecessor. The new Sienna had a cheaper interior, is louder, and is overall less refined than the previous Sienna. Hence, it finished last in two comparison tests done by cars.com and Car & Driver. 
The next disappointing redesign was the 2012 Camry. It wasn't disappointing at first, but the competition raised the bar to another level right after the Camry came out. Toyota didn't mess anything up this time, but the car just seems uncompetitive compared to newer family sedans. Well, it seems uncompetitive even to the Hyundai Sonata and Kia Optima, both of which were redesigned for the 2011 model year. It has second to last in comparison tests done by Car & Driver as well as Motortrend, and finished midpack in cars.com's latest family sedan shootout.

 Out in the Lexus department, the 2013 ES was a real disappointment. It came out with gimmicky features, less refinement than its predecessor, and arguably less consistent interior quality compared to its predecessor. Three good things do stand out, and they are a bigger interior, a flashier styling theme, and a gas-electric hybrid version. Those things aren't enough to compensate for the downfalls, though. There is a general consensus among automotive journalists that the new ES isn't quite up to snuff with some competitors, or even its predecessor. 

 The RX F Sport is a failure, too. According to both Motortrend and cars.com, the F Sport has an overly stiff ride without much handling benefit. 

 But you know, now that I think about it, Toyota isn't all that bad. But they have been on a slide downwards from, say, ten years ago. Back then, Toyota didn't have disappointments. All Toyota offered were highly refined, quality vehicles. Now, with bad press ranging from recalls [I think the whole unintended acceleration ordeal was a hoax] to disappointing redesigns, Toyota is moving down on my impressions list for the first time. 

 But don't forget the other Japanese manufacturers! Honda's Acura brand has been a failure for the last few years, and I don't see that changing with the new RLX. Their design language and general half-ass approach to certain things isn't getting them much customers. Honda itself, meanwhile, is just making a rebound from a brief era of darkness with the new Accord and Civic. The 2012 Civic was a failure, while other models like the Odyssey and CR-V have all but lost their sense of fun.

 And then there's Nissan. Their 2013 Altima was well-received at first, but now comments toward it are mostly critique. It finished last in cars.com's family sedan shootout, finished second to last in Car & Driver's family sedan comparison, but was actually liked among Motortrend's editors. 

 The new Sentra was essentially cheaped out. Its driving experience offers neither joy nor refinement. Same goes for the Versa, whose main goal was cheapness. It met it very well, which is not a good thing.

 Infiniti isn't doing any better, with too many aging models and too many holes in the lineup. The new G is coming soon (thank goodness), but there's not word on any updates for the rest of the lineup. Except for the naming scheme, that is. Infiniti is going from it's current naming theme of a letter (followed by an "X" in SUVs) and a two-digit number referring to the engine displacement. Now, everything is going to be "Q-something" or "QX-something". The G is going to be the Q50. The M is going the be the Q60. And all of Infiniti's SUVs will be called the QX50, the QX60, the QX70, et cetera. It's almost as bad as Lincoln's "MK-something".

 Okay, that's enough ranting for today.

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