By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

If you feel that Toyota hasn't exactly set the world on fire with its NASCAR effort, take a gander at what they're up to in Formula One: a whole lotta nothing. Whereas manufacturer success in stock-car racing can sometimes simply be a matter of buying the winningest team and then burning up a ton of cash on space-age testing equipment that the humbler teams are unable to afford, in Formula racing all the teams flaunt mega-bucks technology, so it's a lot harder to claim victory by just out-spending your opponents. As a result, despite having dumped $2.5 BILLION into its F1 program since its debut in 2002, Toyota has yet to score a single win, and its highest season finish has been fourth. The 2008 season, which kicked off last Sunday with the Australian Grand Prix, is truly a make-or-break one for the manufacturer's racing program. Top execs have issued a two-year ultimatum for improvement, and the team is hoping to turn things around through a return to its more traditional consensus-based management style (as opposed to the drill-sergeant leadership favored in the F1 world) and by application of its kaizen philosophy ("continuous improvement") that drives all sectors of its company (i.e., world domination). Let's hope Toyota turns a corner soon, because its underwhelming performance in F1 is expected to start suffering from "diminishing returns." In other words, Toyota benefits from the huge worldwide exposure provided by the sport, simply by being out there; but continued losses are going to start harming brand credibility if they continue much longer.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Comments

GTwildfire
Mar 24, 2008 9:20:11 AM

About that rotary engine thing in the last post. I've seen this retroactive ban kinda thing happen before. Basically it's sanctioned sour grapes because someone came up with better technology. How appropriate to punish progress, God forbid there's unruly innovation in racing.
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Another example is the Chapparal 2J, the "vacuum cleaner" car from the late '60s/early '70s. The only thing that kept it from winning were mechanical bugs and driver issues. Other than that nothing had a chance. Other teams protested and it got ousted on a technicality about articulated body parts being banned (the bottom vacuum skirt).

Blago
Mar 23, 2008 8:23:07 PM

Guys, keep in mind that that 2.5 billion was spent over a 6 year period, that's a little more than 400 million a year, plus they make money from the sponsors. Now, considering Toyota's 200+ Billion a year revenues, that 400 million is nothing for them, it's spit in a bucket. Toyota can keep spending that much year after year, keep losing, and it won't even phase them. But unlike McLaren or Ferrari, who are there to race because they actually want to race, Toyota is there because they want to advertise their brand. Ferrari hadn't won a championship in 21 years until 2000 with Schumacher, yet they kept racing, because that's what the company is all about. Whereas Toyota would never be in F1 if they hadn't won a championship in 21 years. Toyota doesn't have a heart for racing, they're just advertising, that's why they should pull out, they won't win, and the sport doesn't need them, they might as well pull out.

And as for Le Mans, they'll never win that and they know it, that's why they pulled out. Mazda is the only Japanese manufacturer to win Le Mans and thats only because they used a rotary engine to win it with, which was banned right after the race. No Japanese manufacturer has won Le Mans with a piston engined car.

GTwildfire
Mar 23, 2008 6:46:17 PM

I think Toyota should take that 2.5 BILLION and use it to develope a REAL EV. Re-think the battery as is being done with the Lightning GT with its NanoSafe battery technology.
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ALL IT TAKES is one major auto maker to break this ridculous surface tension, break through and take the car as we know it far from where it is today. Take it to where it should be. Highly efficient, not some pathetic, grotesquely complex mess like today's Hybrids. Very fast and powerful, without all the emissions. By improving batteries in earnst, increasing the range and decreasing recharge time DRASTICALLY.
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Look, just check out http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4201003.html
for the NanoSafe battery information. THEY RECHARGE IN 10 MINUTES! That's It!
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Now, look at GM's offering-in-the-making, the Volt. It's not even out yet and already it's a PATHETIC EFFORT. Their specs are up to 6.5 hours to recharge! The range is a PATHETIC 40 MILES.
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GM MUST be trying yet ANOTHER WAY to kill the Electric Car, by actually designing one and building it... with specs that could be beat by EVs 20 years ago. Nice Going, GM
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Now back to Toyota. Do something productive with your assets. Shouldn't be hard to beat your competition.
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I'm all-for American cars, but whoever, wherever they're from makes an honest effort on EVs will make me a believer and screw the rest.

Jeff
Mar 23, 2008 6:29:55 PM

I feel that Toyota should leave F1 because the damage has already been done. THey've spent 2.5 billion dollars for what? a few so close but no cigar moments? If I ran a car company and it had spent even a billion, and saw nothing for it, I would of dropped the program, and saved 1.5 billion. I feel that Toyota should return to Le Mans, and take on the mighty German grip that has the circuit, and most notably, Audi. THey had something goign on there with the GT1, but just as the development was getting just ripe, they decide to drop the whole program, and move right to F1, even though the sanctioning rules were changing in 2000, I feel that if toyota woudl of stayed int heprogram, they could of been the Audi's, they could of been the ones who were standing on the podium ,and not Audi. I miss alot of teams that raced in Le Mans, and to me, I think that Le Mans is better marketing then F1, because it should durability,adn reliability. What is Toyota gonna use from F1 that they are gonna pout in their Corolla's? I mean Come on, it's time to face the facts, give up F1, and come back to something that you should of been dominating in the first place. Same thing goe for BMW, they are the red headed step child of F1, yeah they are there every race week, but they are no match for McLaren, and Ferrari at this moment and time, drop the program, or at least move some of the funds, and start back with Le Mans....Im just sick of hearing that 4 letter word winnign every damn time at Le mans since the turn of the century ( excluding 2003 when the Bentley won, but it was powered buy and Audi drivetrain)....

I <3 toyota
Mar 23, 2008 4:54:47 PM

toyota is great, but remeber, this is the same company that dropped the supra. They dont even have one fun car.

YOURMOM
Mar 23, 2008 12:33:27 AM

I THINK TOYOTAS STOCK SHOULD GO DOWN AFTER THIS, NOBODY WANTS TO GIVE THIER MONEY AWAY TO A COMPANY THAT IS JUST WASTING IT ALL AWAY ON HOPES AND DREAMS!!!

Blago
Mar 22, 2008 6:48:19 PM

Currently Toyota spends the highest budget out of all of the F1 teams, and they're still garbage. The fact of the matter is that Toyota simply doesn't have it. They don't have the personnel, they don't have the technical know how, they have nothing other than a lot of money. They might as well quit because they won't be winning anything any time soon, if ever.

Jas
Mar 22, 2008 6:02:44 PM

thats a lot of money to be dumping without getting any results

Irv Miller
Mar 21, 2008 9:09:29 AM

I have to take exception with Jen on this one, while I agree that the win(s) have not happened in F1 even with very large budgets, the success of Toyota in NASCAR is hard to question. Since entering the NASCAR world several years back, Toyota dominates the Craftsman series, has been a force in the Nationwide series and has acomplished it's first vistory in The Sprint Cup. The success will only become greater as time passes AND I will continue to allow them to rip my heart out each race in F1 until a victory is produced.

GTwildfire
Mar 20, 2008 5:51:29 PM

While I personally think Toyota has no place in NASCAR, at the same time I think Toyota is a natural for and belongs in F1 competition. It's a huge company with vast resources. Sometimes winning simply boils down to mere luck, no matter how tightly a ship is run, and misfortune easily transcends year after year when it comes to coming in first.
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Nonetheless, 2.5 Billion? That's a staggering number. That's the cost of a brand new U.S. Naval Destroyer, with a half BILLION left over! How the hell can a racing team cost that much????????
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When all is said and done hell, I'd pull the plug. I think that program is wildly expensive.