Toyota plans Avalon revival

TOYOTA'S Avalon large car is far from a dead duck. Instead, the next generation version due in 2005 is set to be Toyota Australia's first locally-styled car.

Not only will the Avalon have local looks, it is also expected to stretch its wheelbase to separate it more from Camry and set it up as a potential export candidate to the Middle East.

Toyota Australia currently does not have the ability to style complete cars in-house, but has hired former Nissan Australia chief designer Paul Beranger as its manager of design to establish a full styling department.

The new generation Avalon is the third and most important step in energising a nameplate that has patently failed to deliver sales penetration into the Holden and Ford dominated large car market for Toyota Australia.

There will be a minor product realignment and spec adjustment this year, then around this time next year comes the facelift which our artist Bernie Walsh has envisioned here.

The styling work on this car has been performed by German engineering and design company Edag's Melbourne office.

But neither of these moves will have anything like the impact of the all-new car, with the company admitting 10,000 sales in the next 12 months would be a good result. Real sales impetus will not come until the all-new Avalon arrives with Australian-drawn styling.

While Toyota Australia's design centre will not rival Holden's for size, it will have the ability to design bodies from the clay modelling process onwards.

It should have the ability to work on two major projects at any one time, as well as handle other more minor work.

It is believed the establishment of the styling department is not tied to Toyota Australia winning the rights to the new international research and design centre, called Toyota Technical Centre Asia-Pacific.

But it is believed TA has all but defeated a rival bid from Toyota in Thailand for TTCAP.

Toyota Australia is loath to confirm the deal until it has finalised the level of financial assistance it will receive from state and federal governments.

The establishment of the styling centre will go hand-in-hand with a further expansion of Toyota's engineering and design personnel.

The current staffing level is about 100 and without TTCAP it will still grow to around 300, but with it Toyota Australia is looking to increase engineering and design staffing levels to about 500.

The ability to style its own exteriors is a further sign of the disconnection Toyota Australia has achieved from the Toyota Motor Corpor-ation "mothership" in Japan.

Both the current Avalon and the new 380N Camry are built on what is called the Toyota Modular Platform, an Australian development not related to the platform that underpins the Camry in Japan and the US.

TMP means reduced production complexity at Toyota's Altona plant where the Avalon and Camry share a single line. It also makes it easier for Toyota Australia to weld unique bodies over the top - a plan notoriously conservative TMC has given the thumbs-up to.

Toyota Australia has decided to go its own way on Avalon rather than pick up the current US Avalon when it is retired in 2005, or jump a generation and align with the post-2005 Avalon being styled for the US market.

That car is going to be bigger and more expensive than the current Avalon, whereas Toyota Australia recognises it must contest the fleet-end of the large car market if it is to garner real sales growth.

One possibility is that an extension of the wheelbase would be applied to all Avalons sold locally and for possible export, presenting local large car buyers with Statesman/Fairlane size for Comm-odore/Falcon pricing.

The LWB Avalon would also present Toyota Australia with a better opportunity to grow its six-cylinder sales in the Middle East, as most Camrys sold in this power-loving market are four-cylinders.

Toyota Australia starts local assembly of the 1MZ-FE 3.0-litre V6 engine early in 2003.

While increased localisation aids the continued de-Yenning process, it also means there will be the opportunity to grow engine power and torque and even capacity, although bore pitch limitations means it can only grow to 3.3 litres.

* Toyota Australia is planning to start overseas export of the new Camry's 2AZ-FE four-cylinder engine. The company has identified Japan and Thailand as potential markets, although the numbers are expected to be only around 4000-5000 per year.

TOYOTA MOVIE MARATHON

TOYOTA launched television advertising for the new 380N Camry last Sunday night, buying up exclusive automotive rights to the evening movies around the country.

But it doesn't stop there, with Toyota maintaining that exclusivity during the high-rating Sunday night movie slot on all three commercial networks for the next two weeks as well for its two Camry ads - one for the range and one specifically targetting the Sportivo.

"We're not doing that just for the sake of it," said Toyota Australia's manager locally manufactured vehicles, Adrian Weimers.

"We knew a long time in advance what the potential launch dates were going to be for VY Commodore and BA Falcon, so we knew we needed to go early to get our share of voice in the marketplace at this time.

"We were also concerned about Mazda6 which was already launched and at the time when we were planning this the new Vectra was due around this time, although that has now been pushed back."