Toyota could spray silver paint on a dog turd, slap a 40k sticker on it and people would buy it. Toyota isn't in the business of selling cars. They're in the business of selling billboards that say "look how financially savvy I am" on one side and "look I can afford premium products" on the other side to upper middle class types. Toyota isn't innovating because they're under no pressure to innovate as long as people keep buying and tinkering with a brand image like that is fraught with peril so it's hard to justify unless you absolutely have to. This is why they've been so conservative for the last ~20yr.
I mean they could, because they’re known for producing reliable vehicles. It’s not like this is just made up; the stuff they sell is just better than most of the competition in that regard. Being conservative in some aspects can be good. When they started adopting GDI they didn’t only use GDI, they also used traditional port injection to reduce carbon buildup issues and improve efficiency. Whereas a lot of Ford ecoboost engines as an example didn’t do this and started to have problems because cleaning the intake valves wasn’t part of the scheduled maintenance
>Toyota could spray silver paint on a dog turd, slap a 40k sticker on it and people would buy it
As the owner of a few Toyota's I think you misunderstand how they became pretty much the world's largest car producer. Mostly because they produce no nonsense reliable cars that work well for years and years. I don't think many people think wow cool brand.
(I know VW is technically bigger but they did it by acquiring Audi, Porsche etc rather than people buying more VWs)
I've bought and sold dozens (probably close to a hundred at this point) of vehicles in the $500-$1500 price bracket.
Looking at the kind of condition North American and Asian vehicles end up towards the end of their life I can't really think of any one of them that's particularly special. Every OEM has a handful of product lines and assemblies that suck and Toyota is no exception nor do they have fewer of those kinds of problems than anyone else.
I think they make slightly nicer interiors which I think results in less broken knobs and handles when the well to do white collar crowd gives them to their college age kids which is where most of that goodwill comes from.
I feel very, very comfortable saying that any edge Toyota has is wholly the result of the additional upfront cost and less attractive financing options and deals ensuring their vehicles start life and rack up miles in the hands of people who can afford to maintain them and treat them nicely. The average Toyota buyer will make almost any vehicle seem highly reliable.
